


The Chase

by MosaicCreme



Series: Targeted Interference [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2018-11-07 19:59:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 33
Words: 198,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11066082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MosaicCreme/pseuds/MosaicCreme
Summary: [AU] Jasmine struggles to balance the relationships in her life as well as her career as an Alliance Phantom. After killing her last handler, Leon, everything feels up in the air except for how she feels about Thane. She hoped to put Leon and all of his insanity behind her, but something he said on his confessional vid just keeps haunting her ... and she can't let it go.





	1. Prologue: Confinement

**Prologue: Confinement**

Three months. They kept Jasmine locked in a little room for three months. The vid screen behind reinforced, bullet proof glass only picked up Earth channels, and half of those were blocked. Heaven forbid she watch porn or some violent flick to pass the time. She just left it off most days. She never found anything on worth watching, and without a remote or an omni-tool, she needed to ask the guards to change the channels. Half the time they ignored the request anyway. They let her have a few old books, but she already read them all—twice.

At least the ventilation system worked well; lingering smells from food and bodily functions would drive anyone mad. The days between showers, she made do with giving herself a sponge bath at the sink, but it only made her long for the days of spending forty minutes beneath the steaming spray of a private shower whenever she wanted. She slept, exercised, ate, and relieved herself in her cell, but hey, they had the decency to put the toilet behind a partition and they took her out every other day for a shower.

Every few days or so, a guard would open her door, shackle her and take her to another room to sit her down in a chair across from the blond woman, whom Jasmine was only ever allowed to call Langston. Although, in her mind, the uptight woman simply became 'The Bitch'. Every time they brought her out, The Bitch spent the first few minutes staring at Jasmine in silence, the only sound in the room the increasingly annoying tap, tap, tap of her fingernails against the tabletop.

Then the questions started. Demanding. Accusing. Leading. Designed to trip her up.

"When did Leon Harding first make contact with you on the Citadel?"

"Who were the people you went to Illium to kill?"

"At what point did you realize Leon Harding was related to Jassar Solomon?"

"Who is Nevas T'sera?"

"Why did you abandon your post on the Citadel?"

"Why did you kill twenty-one people inside of the RetCorp building on Illium?"

"Who are Drulius and Laeria Canso?"

"What was the nature of your relationship to Leon Harding?"

"Why were you and Leon Harding at the residence of Nevas T'sera the night you killed Leon Harding?"

"Did you learn Leon Harding fabricated the dossiers for the alleged job before or after you killed twenty-one people on Illium?"

"Who is Saman Naol?"

"Why did you kill Leon Harding?"

"What did Leon Harding tell you about Jassar Solomon?"

"Did you take part in the killing of Drulius and Laeria Canso?"

"Where did the altercation between yourself and Leon Harding take place?"

"Did you kill Leon Harding because of a personal conflict between the two of you stemming from a past romantic relationship?"

"How did Leon Harding die?"

"Who else was present besides yourself, Leon Harding, and Nevas T'sera the night you killed Leon Harding?"

"Where are Nevas T'sera and Saman Naol now?"

"Were you present when Drulius and Laeria Canso were killed?"

"What caused the altercation between yourself and Leon Harding?"

And on, and on, and on. Still, it gave her something to look forward to. A break from the white walls and her own, never-ending thoughts. They never let her call anyone; she never got to write anyone. If not for Thane and the call she placed to Geoffrey before her escorts picked her up on Illium, she might die there, and no one would ever even know what happened. She didn't even really know anymore if they planned to actually put her on trial; maybe she already was and they just didn't bother telling her. Apparently things like civil rights, law, and due process didn't really apply to her anymore. And why should it? The Phantom program didn't officially exist. She'd be lying if she said being there didn't make her start to wonder why she didn't just cut her losses and run; why she ever thought turning herself in was the smart thing to do.

* * *

Thane lay in the hospital bed, a thin tube trailing between his arm and the machinery measuring out and administering a steady dose of saline and pharmaceuticals through the IV. His chest ached, each breath a struggle, but the doctors assured him this was to be expected. In a while, the nurse would come in and place the nebulizer mask over his mouth and nose before turning on the machine and leaving him to his memories of Jasmine once more.

He'd tried, at first, to engage in the idle conversations the nurses seemed trained to hold with their patients, but it took only a week for him to grow weary of them. Now, after being there for four weeks, he only answered their questions with politeness and waited for them to leave him again. He promised Jasmine he wouldn't close himself off from others, and he didn't, not completely, but he had little in common with the rotation of doctors and nurses, and one could only speak about the humidity levels within the domed city or the progress of the course of treatments so many times before they lost all taste for such mundane topics.

One of the nurses, a man named Hemot, would sometimes spend a few extra moments with Thane discussing religion and philosophy, or even reading to him from his prayer book while he underwent breathing treatments and couldn't speak himself. Those times were few, however, as Hemot was not always assigned as Thane's nurse, and when he did look after Thane, other patients required his attention as well. Even during those moments, Thane yearned to be left alone so he might think of his siha and pray for her safety.

Rone called, nearly every day now, and twice—much to Thane's surprise—he'd woken to find his brother-in-law sitting at his bedside. The visits were strained, awkward; they never had much to talk about. Still, it meant a great deal to him to see Rone in person, and Thane loved hearing about his son. Kolyat never spoke more than a few words to Thane, but he didn't think it coincidence the boy more and more frequently decided to enter his uncle's study during their conversations.

A gentle tap at the door announced the arrival of the nurse, and he turned his attention toward the noise. "Yes, come in."

The door slid open, and instead of the nurse, one of his doctors walked inside. Thane pushed himself up on the bed, the change in routine sparking concern, cold in the pit of his stomach. Dr. Sheal smiled at him, the gentle curve of her mouth reassuring him.

Moving to stand over him, she glanced down at her datapad. "It is good to see you again, Sere Nuara. I am told you have no interest in pain medications, I wonder if you are experiencing discomfort."

He relaxed back against his pillows. "The pain is manageable, thank you."

"This pleases me to hear. You seem to be taking well to the treatments, your progress is very promising. I believe we can move you to a rehabilitation facility to continue your treatments within a few days." She looked up from the datapad, meeting his gaze once more. "Your records do not indicate an address on Kahje. I would like to make arrangements for you, but I am uncertain if you have a preference in location."

Thane smiled, the idea of leaving the hospital pleased him immensely, even if a rehabilitation center didn't afford him the same level of privacy as if he rented his own apartment. "Anywhere in Enkindler's Pass is acceptable, thank you."

"Very good, I will make arrangements for you." Dr. Sheal looked over the readouts from the machines hooked up to him before nodding to herself. "I will leave you to rest, the nurse will be in momentarily to administer your triheptate."

He dipped his head to her. "Thank you."

"Of course," she said, making her way to the door. "You are quite welcome." With one last smile, the doctor left the room.

* * *

The guard shoved her down her into the chair, even though she didn't put up any resistance. She could kill him. Even in shackles, she could still kill him. Maybe even The Bitch, too, before anyone else made it to the room to stop her. Not that she would, but the thought helped keep her sane some days. Whereas The Bitch limited herself to glares and endless questions, the guards didn't restrain themselves quite so much, making their feelings for Jasmine perfectly clear. She'd killed one of their own when she shot Leon, and to them, it didn't matter why.

Oh, they didn't beat her or starve her, nothing so blatantly criminal. No, but they made sure to put the cuffs on a little too tight, grip her arm a little harder than necessary while moving her from room to room, and shove her in the direction they wanted her to go. She'd heard more than a few derogatory remarks about her passed back and forth between guards while changing shifts, and most nights a random, loud noise outside her cell woke her from sleep every couple of hours. On one occasion, a guard spit in her food right in front of her before handing her the tray. Jasmine grinned in his face and took her first bite—spit right on top—while he watched. It didn't happen again. Hell, there existed a time in her life when she'd literally eaten out of garbage cans and snorted red sand off the back of toilets in dirty truck stop bathrooms. She could handle a little spit.

They had to let her out eventually—at least it's what she kept telling herself—and then she'd keep her nose to the ground until her service contract expired. She wouldn't be renewing, no matter what terms they offered. The whole thing with Leon was fucked, but it wasn't her fault. She did the right thing—whether she loved Thane or not—he and Nevas didn't deserve to be wiped out to cover up Leon's mess. Drulius and his wife … Jesus, there's no other word for what Leon did to them other than cold-blooded murder. The turians weren't even tangentially connected to RetCorp, they died for no other reason than because Leon decided to pick a drunken fight with Drulius one night and then let the trashed turian crash on their couch. Yet the Alliance kept her locked away in a little room, not because of the mess with RetCorp, but because she stopped a psychotic killer who happened to be one of their own.

The Bitch began her tap, tap, tapping, and Jasmine took a slow, steadying breath before meeting her gaze and waited for the questions to start. Instead, a moment later, the door opened and a man in a suit walked in. He didn't say anything, only handed The Bitch an open laptop before turning around and walking out again. Setting the laptop on the table, she pressed a button and spun the laptop around to face Jasmine. A surprised hiss ripped its way free of her throat before she caught herself, reining in the sudden flood of grief and remorse.

Leon's face appeared on the screen, fresh blood smeared beneath his nose and across his chin. His nose, an angry shade of red and swollen, sat a little crooked on his face; new bruises mingling with old. He lifted a blood soaked washcloth to his face, wiping beneath his nose before sniffing, the sound wet and phlegmy. "This is Leon Harding, Phantom H35." He sniffed and wiped more blood from his face. "I'm on Illium with Phantom ACH35. She's here on my orders." The camera shifted to show Jasmine's prone form, unconscious, and with a fresh cut on her temple—Medi-gel still drying. He turned the camera back to his face. "Everything that happened here … everything that's still going to happen here, it's on me. Just me. I'm cleaning up the mess, tying up loose ends. Won't be anyone left to point the finger at us when I'm done."

His attention turned down, the camera shifting a little, showing his bare chest and the knife wound she'd left there. "See, love? All taken care of." Lifting his omni-tool back up to focus on his face, he smirked at the screen. "If she were awake right now, she'd tell you I've lost it, but she can't because I had to knock her out. She tried stopping me from finishing this thing, and I couldn't let her do that. She's smart, my Jasmine," he said glancing back down and away from the camera again, "she figured the whole thing out, she just got it a little too late to keep things from happening." He lifted his head, wiping at his face and sniffing once more before turning his attention back to the camera. "She's loyal to you assholes; maybe to a fault." He snorted and winced, a fresh trickle of blood starting to seep from his nose again. "See, she doesn't know yet—"

The Bitch leaned forward, hitting a button and pausing the vid, cutting Leon off mid-sentence. She turned the laptop back to her, her nails clicking against the keys. Jasmine clenched her jaw but said nothing, her mind spinning as she tried to figure out what angle The Bitch was playing and what she'd do next.

_Doesn't know what yet? What the fuck did he say? What aren't you letting me see?_

"Our files do indicate Harding was Jasser solomon's son, and with Harding's own confession as well as what other evidence our investigation has turned up … you appear to be telling the truth, Shepard. At least part of the truth." She turned the laptop back around and pushed it a little closer to Jasmine.

Leaning against the table, Jasmine skimmed over the report on the laptop's screen, carefully guarding her expression. The report contained information about rumors of a cyberattack on RetCorp, thought to have occurred during the shootout. Whoever wrote the report stated they weren't able to verify the attack; RetCorp never filed an official report on the matter. They did, however, claim to have an inside source.

Jasmine forced a look of confusion on her face. Furrowing her brow, she jerked her shoulders up before letting them fall again. She shook her head as she returned her gaze to the older woman. "I don't know anything about this. Leon never said anything about messing with their systems, just asari targets."

"You expect me to believe it's a coincidence? RetCorp just happened to be attacked on two fronts, at the same time?" The Bitch cocked a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, but her expression didn't give much else away. She dragged the laptop back to her.

"Not what I said. I said I don't know anything about it." Jasmine shrugged, flopping back in her seat. "Might've been Leon, might've been someone else. Hell, by this report, might not of happened at all." She nodded her head at the laptop. "So … if you have the evidence you need to prove this thing was Leon's doing … why am I still here?"

The Bitch leaned forward, slowly pushing the laptop aside before clasping her hands together on the table in front of her. "You killed your handler, Shepard. You shot him three times, the final shot—the only lethal shot—at point blank range."

Jasmine clenched her jaw and sucked in a slow, deep breath. "He tricked me into going to Illium to kill people not sanctioned by the Alliance, caused a shit load of collateral damage, kicked my ass when I figured it all out, and then left me lying there, unconscious, to go kill innocent people who had _nothing_ to do with his fucking vendetta." She leaned forward, her jaw aching with the restraint of keeping her tone level. "I saved the life of an innocent woman, _after_ we already potentially ruined her life and career by using her as a means to get inside RetCorp. Tell me … if Nevas was human, would you be questioning my actions?"

* * *

"Sere Nuara, you have visitors." Hemot, pressed his back to the doorframe, turning to gesture out into the hall.

A moment later Rone stepped through, dipping his head at Hemot as he passed. After a few steps, he stopped, turning to look back over his shoulder. "Kolyat? If you have changed your mind, we do not have to stay."

_Kolyat? He's here?_

Thane pushed himself upright, his stuttering heart making the machines beep enough to draw a concerned glance from the nurse at the door. And then, there he was, his son, stepping through the door. The strength of the urge to throw the covers off and rush to Kolyat, sweeping the boy up in his arms and crush his son to his chest, surprised him and nearly overwhelmed Thane's good sense. Kolyat cast a furtive glance at Thane before stopping next to his uncle and dropping his gaze to the floor. Hemot smiled at them before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Kolyat glanced at Thane, but again his gaze shifted away as he reached up, taking Rone's hand. "Hello, Father."

Thane swallowed, his mouth and throat dry. His voice croaked when he spoke, the undertone of longing and grief painful even to his own ears. "Hello, Kolyat. I am—I'm so very pleased to see you." He glanced at Rone, finding his brother-in-law watching the boy closely, a soft smile on his face. "Please, come in, sit down."

Rone pointed to the chairs next to Thane's bed, and Kolyat started walking, taking slow, hesitant steps until he reached the first chair—furthest from Thane—and sat down. When Kolyat let go of his uncle's hand, Rone moved to the other chair and took a seat, too. Thane shifted in the bed, as much as the monitors and IV allowed, to face the two of them. He hated being there, tied to the machines when his son sat just a meter away.

Kolyat took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, meeting his father's gaze. "Uncle Rone says you will be leaving the hospital soon."

"I will." Thane nodded. "I'll be moving to a rehabilitation center tomorrow to continue my treatments for a few months."

The boy's jaw tightened. "Then you will leave again." It wasn't a question, or even an observation, but an accusation—putting fire in Kolyat's eyes. "You always leave."

Thane winced, pressing his fist to his chest, dropping his gaze to the floor at his son's feet. "Kolyat, I …."

"Kolyat," Rone said, his voice soft but chidding, "we have spoken about this."

"No." Thane cleared his throat, forcing himself to meet his son's gaze. "He's right to be angry with me. Kolyat … I'm sorry, deeply and truly sorry. I failed you, and I failed your mother." Tears began to fill his eyes, and he swallowed, fighting to keep his voice level. "I wish I could give you answers, explain myself to you, but I can't. Perhaps, one day, when you are older, I'll be able to and earn your forgiveness." He blinked, and the tears began to fall. Clenching the sheet in his hand, he wished desperately Jasmine was there with him, lending him her strength through her presence. "My apologies, my son. I love you and always will, but yes, when the doctors have finished with me, I will leave Kahje again. I must. Just as you must stay with your mother's family where you will be looked after, cared for, and kept safe."

A soft whimper escaped Kolyat, tears rolling down his own cheeks. His lip quivered, and he turned to his uncle. "I would like to go now, please."

"Kolyat …." Fire exploded through Thane, the worst his chest ever felt. He knew air entered his lungs, but it felt as if he couldn't breathe, the flames threatening to consume him completely. Still, all he cared about was the child sitting across from him, just out of reach in every way that mattered. His hand lifted aimlessly, pulling the sheet with it before dropping back to the bed beside him. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, unable to find the strength to give the words more force.

Rone's gaze shifted from Thane to Kolyat, and then to his clasped hands in his lap. "If you are certain, Kolyat, I will not force you, but know I believe your father is sincere and wants nothing more than for you to stay. He loves you and has missed you dearly."

Kolyat jumped up from his chair, his little hands forming tight fists at his sides as he turned on his uncle, his voice raised and full of pain and fury. "Then why does he keep _leaving_ me?"

Thane's bare feet touched the floor before he even realized he intended to move, detaching the IV feed from the catheter taped to his arm and tossing the monitoring devices aside. Both Rone and Kolyat's heads jerked up to stare at him, their lips parted in stunned silence. Somewhere in the back of his mind—the part of him that'd never be silent—he heard the door open, and in his peripherals he saw Hemot rush into the room, only to stop and stare a moment before shutting off the monitoring devices, silencing their incessant beeping and leaving them alone once more.

His gaze never left Kolyat's, though. Nothing and no one else mattered. He took a couple of steps forward, stopping only when able to reach out and touch his son, resting the palm of his hand against the boy's cheek. The feel of Kolyat's scales beneath Thane's fingers ripped an anguished sob from his throat, but he lifted his other hand to the opposite side of the child's face anyway.

Kolyat squeezed his eyes closed, his entire face distorting with his misery, walls crumbling as he began to keen. Thane sunk to his knees in front of the boy, and Kolyat threw himself into his father's arms, clinging to his neck with a desperation that rocked Thane to darkest depths of his soul.

Rone stood, resting a hand on his shoulder before caressing the back of Kolyat's head. "I will wait outside, give the two of you some time alone."

He glanced up, giving him a slight nod. "Thank you, Brother." It was all the notice he spared for Rone at the moment. Sliding an arm around the back of Kolyat's thighs, the other wrapped firmly around the child's back, Thane stood, lifting his son with him. Frantic sobs filled the air, the child's high-pitched whine, cutting into Thane worse than any blade ever could. Holding his son a little tighter, he slid his hand from Kolyat's back up to cradle his head. "I'm so sorry, Kolyat. I'm so sorry."

"I do not want you to leave, Father." Kolyat wailed, pressing the side of his face deeper into the crook of Thane's neck, his grip around his father tightening, as if he could hold him there forever if he only tried hard enough. "Please do not go. Please."

Thane carried him over to the bed and sat down, pulling Kolyat onto his lap. The boy had grown so much since the last time Thane held him, he didn't really fit on his father's lap anymore, but they made do.

"I must, my son." Thane began a gentle rocking motion, hoping to calm the child. "Staying with you is not an option for me, much as I wish it were."

"Why, Father? Why?"

"I—Because …." Thane squeezed his eyes shut, biting down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood as memories pushed their way to the surface, threatening to pull him back under with them. He _would not_ relive the day he learned assassins were after his family because of him. He _would not_ let his son hear how he'd dropped everything and fled, running with everything he had to get back home, hoping, praying, begging every god and goddess he knew the names for that he wouldn't be too late. How when he finally arrived, he only found they'd already been there and killed his wife, while his son hid in the next room.

He shook his head and cleared his throat. "I can't give you a better explanation right now, Son. I promise I will tell you everything when you're older. Just know … after what happened to your mother … I knew … I thought it best for you, _safer_ for you, if I left."

Kolyat stilled, his breathing beginning to slow as he seemed to mull over Thane's words. After a moment, he started whispering. "'Kolyat!' Mother grabs me, picking me up from the floor. Runs to the bedroom. 'Mother?' She opens the closet, shoves things aside. Wipes tears from her eyes. Opens a small door, hidden in the back of the closet. 'Kolyat, get inside. You must stay here, no matter what you hear—'"

"Sweet Arashu," Terrified, Thane sucked in a breath, shaking his son a little, trying desperately to pull him away from the living nightmare. "Kolyat. Kolyat, you're here with me now. _Be here_ with me now." Pulling his son, back he held the boy's face between both hands, rubbing his thumbs over the child's cheeks. " Look at me, look at your father, Kolyat."

Kolyat blinked several times, his gaze settling on his father in the present moment, an eerie, detached calm settling over his features. "I heard them, Father. I stayed in the closet like Mother told me, but I heard them. They told her they were sending a message to you." He swallowed, lowering his gaze. "They killed her, but I stayed in the closet like Mother told me to."

* * *

Jasmine lay on the cot, hands under her head and her ankles crossed. She turned her head to look at the door, curiosity piqued, when she heard a key in the lock. It's been weeks since anyone came to take her to see The Bitch. It'd left her with a whole lot of time to brood and ponder Leon's confession vid. It left a bitter taste on the back of her tongue, the warning of 'something big'; something The Bitch didn't want her to know. Which naturally made Jasmine really, really want to find out. It sounded like he intended to say something about the Phantoms, or maybe just the Alliance in general. Something, if Jasmine heard, might make her question her loyalty. A few months ago, she would've sworn it'd never happen, no matter what … now, after spending four months alone in a cell without so much as a hint of what they planned to do with her … she wasn't so sure.

The door opened, but instead of revealing a guard, ready with cuffs, a man in a sharp, navy suit stepped inside. She cocked an eyebrow, pulling her hands from behind her head and paused, her mind racing to figure out who the newcomer was and whether she needed to stand and salute. A guard pulled the door closed behind him, locking them both inside.

"Jasmine Shepard?" The tall stranger asked, tucking his hands into his pockets.

She pushed herself to her feet and started to lift her hand to her brow in salute, but he pulled a hand back out of his pocket and waved her off. He stood there a moment, not saying anything, just looking at her; so she looked right back. She swept her gaze over him, top to bottom and back again. The fine hairs on the back of her neck tickled, standing on end. The man man practically screamed 'dangerous', no doubt about it. He might look soft in his expensive, well-tailored suit and manicured nails, with subtle hints of spicy aftershave wafting off of him, but the carefully constructed, intentionally casual stance and the shrewd, assessing look in his eyes belied the rest of the picture he presented.

No, he wasn't a pencil pusher; he didn't spend his time behind a desk looking at numbers and reports like The Bitch and her lackeys. She could almost smell the Phantom training on him. She didn't think he meant to kill her, though. The guards carried guns, and they kept her locked in a room with no other exit. They wouldn't even need to unlock the door to shoot her, just slide open the observation window and take aim. Sure, she might be able to press herself against the wall next to the door, force them to enter, and she might even take down one or two if she got lucky, but she was outnumbered and stripped of weapons. If they wanted her dead, no way she'd make it out alive.

_So, who the hell are you and what do you want?_

He smirked when she met his gaze again and nodded his head toward the one chair in her cell. "Mind if I sit down?"

She snorted. "You're the boss here, Mr. …."

He surprised her, taking a few steps closer and holding out his hand. "You can call me Isaac."

_He's confident. Or at least wants me to think he is._

She shook his hand, noting his firm, solid grip. "You're the boss here, Isaac."

Chuckling, he nodded his head, the light catching on the small, gold studs in his ears. "Maybe. That's what I'm here to see." He walked over to the desk built into the wall and pulled the chair out, turning it around to face her cot. Unbuttoning his jacket, he sat down, crossing one long leg over the other. He threaded his fingers together, resting his hands in his lap and watched her. "Feel free to sit down, Jasmine. Is it alright if I call you Jasmine?"

_Sit? Uh, no. Come on, guy, what do you want? I get it, you're trying to put me at ease, want me relaxed. Why?_

She narrowed her eyes, remaining standing for the time being. "Is it really my choice?"

He raised his thumbs, turning his palms out a little. "It is."

"Then it depends." She paced back a few feet, and leaned her hip against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest.

The corner of his mouth twitched, amusement dancing in his dark brown eyes. "They weren't lying when they said you were defiant." He chuckled, his head bobbing a little as if to a tune only he heard. "What's it depend on?"

Jasmine raised an eyebrow and gestured toward him. "On who you are and why exactly you're crashing my pity party."

He put a hand against his chest. "I'm a handler. Maybe your handler."

"My handler?" She pursed her lips and nodded. "So, they're not planning on throwing away the key. Good to know. Why maybe?"

He shrugged, his gaze steady on her, giving nothing away. "I haven't decided whether or not I want to work with you, yet."

_Okay, you want to play this game, I'll play._

"Why? Because I'm 'defiant'? Oh, no, that's not it." She scoffed, pushing away from the wall and returned to her cot, sitting on the foot of the makeshift bed to rest her back against the wall. "Let me guess, you're not sure if you want to work with me because I killed my last handler." She sucked in a deep breath, and held her arms out to the sides. "So, what? You decided to size me up before you make the call?"

He gave her a slow shake of his head. "I'm just here to talk."

She snorted, moving over to stretch out on her cot, tucking her hands back under her head and crossing her ankles once more. "I've been here for four months now. The only person who ever wants to talk is The—Langston." She turned her head to look at him. "I could use the change in scenery. You want to talk, we'll talk."

_This relaxed enough for you? Nonthreatening?_

He raised an eyebrow at her, pursing his lips. "Jasmine or Shepard?"

"Shepard," she said, pausing before adding, "For now. Why you?"

He nodded, apparently accepting her choice, even if the sharp focus of his gaze told her he didn't buy her act. "What do you mean?"

"Why'd they choose you?" She pulled a hand free to wave around at nothing. "Of all options, why'd they want you to be my new handler?" She tucked her hand back behind her head.

"Honestly?" He raised his eyebrows. Leaning forward in his chair when she tilted her head, he put both feet on the floor and rested his elbows on his knees. "I think they chose me because I'm gay, and you had a romantic history with Harding."

Jasmine snorted, rolling her eyes. "Langston still thinks it has something to do with why I killed him."

He turned his palms up. "Does it?"

"No." She shifted her gaze back to the ceiling, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "I killed him because he went off the rails, taking out innocent people on a job he fabricated because of personal reasons."

"I read the file." He made a thoughtful humming sound, glancing down at his hands; the first time he'd taken his eyes off of her since he sat down. "Do you regret killing him?"

Jasmine's brow furrowed and her head jerked back towards Isaac, but nothing in his expression said he intended to wound her with the question. She considered his words for a moment before shaking her head. "I regret I _had_ to. I regret he didn't listen to me when I confronted him. I got my ass handed to me when I tried to stop him, and because of it he killed two more people while I _napped_ on the goddamn floor." She swallowed, choking down her grief—grief she didn't have the right to feel—and sucked in a breath, holding it in her lungs for a few seconds before letting it go in a noisy rush. "I regret the fact his sister is waiting for him to come help her deal with their father's death, and now he'll never show, and fuck all if the Alliance will tell her anything because officially … officially he wasn't a part of the Alliance."

"They already sent his sister a letter. I don't know what they said, or who it's supposed to be from, but the Solomon family knows he's dead." He shrugged when Jasmine looked at him again, hints of what felt like genuine sympathy in his eyes. "Langston didn't tell you?"

"Langston doesn't tell me things, she asks me things." Jasmine paused for effect, dropping her voice to a droning monotone. "Over, and over, and over again." She closed her eyes, turning her face back to the ceiling and took a few slow breaths while she listened for any sign of movement from him. She'd started to forget what it felt like to be talked to like a person, to be offered some grain of information capable of putting her mind at ease even just a little. "Thank you." She smiled to herself.

_Not bad, Isaac. Not bad._

"Mhmm." He made the same humming sound again. "Would you do it again?"

"What?" She opened her eyes, letting her gaze roam over the ceiling tiles and locked door, still tracking him in her peripherals.

"Kill your handler again? If you found yourself in a similar situation with another handler, would you kill them?"

Jasmine turned her head to look at him and gave him the simplest, but truest answer, "Yeah." She did the right thing when she killed Leon, and she'd stand by that, no matter what they decided to do with her.

"Good." Isaac stood, buttoning his jacket. "I'll get the paperwork going to get you out of here."

_What? Seriously?_

Jasmine sat up, staring up at the man, guarding her expression so the hope didn't show through, just in case. "You're taking me on?"

"I am, and I already have an assignment for you." He picked up the chair, carrying it back to the desk. "A month's leave of absence." He sat the chair down and turned to look at her, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Go someplace new, Shepard. Take in the sights. Deal with the hot mess you've got going on in your head."

She stood, pulse racing. He was getting her out. She could see Thane, call Geoffrey and Karin, talk to Rift … _see Thane_. She'd have to be careful, of course; make sure they didn't have someone follow her when she left, but she'd actually be able to see him again and the thought made her heart swell in her chest. She started to lift her hand in salute but Isaac waved her off again and shook his head.

"Don't. Don't do that. I don't want to hear 'yes, sir', either. Remember that, and we'll do fine." He crossed the floor, banging the side of his fist against the door three times. "They'll re-outfit you before you leave and return your personal effects." Isaac nodded to her when the door opened. "I'll be in touch, Shepard. One month."

She broke, unable to hold back the stupid grin or the joyous tears anymore. "Thank you, Isaac."


	2. Reunions

**Reunions**

Jasmine knocked on the old, familiar door—still in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint—and waited, adjusting her bags on her shoulders. A few moments later, Karin opened the door, drying her hands on a kitchen towel. Her eyes lit up, a wide smile sweeping over her face.

"Jasmine!" She stepped out onto the porch, throwing her arms around Jasmine and pulling her into a tight hug. "What a surprise? It's so good to see you!" Turning, she tugged Jasmine toward the door. "Come in, I just started dinner and the kids are finishing up their homework. Geoffrey won't be home for another twenty minutes or so."

Jasmine grinned as the older woman started trying to tug Jasmine's bags from her shoulders. "I got them. Go sit down somewhere. We both know you haven't sat down since you've been home."

Karin swatted at her with the hand towel. "I'll sit at dinner. Let me unlock Geoffrey's study for you." She eyed, the bags over Jasmine's shoulder again. "I'm guessing you'll need to use his gun safe."

Jasmine nodded, knowing the house rule. Once she stepped foot inside the Williams' house, she agreed to lock her weapons away. Geoffrey did the same thing, before he even took off his jacket or sat down his briefcase. "Yeah, probably a good idea."

Karin smiled and patted Jasmine on the shoulder before steering her toward the study, leaving it at that. "The kids will be so happy to see you. Rift still talks about you every day. He's been so upset you haven't called in months."

Jasmine winced. "Yeah, sorry … it wasn't by choice."

"Oh, he knows. Geoffrey explained everything, but you know how children can be." Karin stopped in front of her husband's study, punching in the code to open the door while Jasmine pretended not to watch.

Not that she needed to watch, Geoffrey hadn't changed the code in years, and the particular security model he used happened to be one Jasmine learned how to hack early in her training. She went inside, glancing over her shoulder as Karin shut the door behind her. Geoffrey, Karin, and Jasmine's fingerprints were the only ones programmed into Geoffrey's gun safe. Again, it wasn't exactly 'safe' in her mind, because she knew she'd have it hacked in under a minute if she ever needed to, but it kept the weapons inside out of the hands of curious children, so it served its purpose.

Jasmine settled her bags to the floor and opened the safe, which she new sent an automatic alert to both Geoffrey and Karin's omni-tools, telling them the gun safe had been opened, and by whom. The call from Geoffrey came through before she'd finished tucking her weapons inside the safe.

Opening her omni-tool, she accepted the call and grinned. "You're not supposed to be making personal calls at work, Williams."

Relief filled his eyes as he took a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face. "Exceptions can be made. I got an alert telling me you opened the gunsafe. I needed to make sure there isn't an emergency at home."

She shook her head, held up her pistol in front of the screen. "Just putting my toys away before I wash up for dinner." Putting the gun in the safe, she shut the door and activated the lock.

Geoffrey nodded, his smile growing a little. "I'll be home soon. It's good to see you, kiddo."

"You, too, Geoffrey." She returned his warm smile before closing her omni-tool, ending the call. Sighing, she glanced around the study, not even the tiniest bit surprised to see it largely unchanged. She left her bags on the study floor, she'd deal with them later.

Rift waited for her just outside the door, looking up at her with wide eyes and a huge grin; the dog, Lucky, stood at his feet wagging its tail. "Jasmine!" He threw his arms around her waist, knocking her back a step.

She laughed, patting his back as she nudged him out of the study's doorway, closing the door behind them. "Hey kid." She kissed the top of his head. "I missed you."

"Hey, Jasmine." Samantha's voice drew her attention. The girl leaned against the door frame leading off to the family room area. "Mom said you brought bags, how long are you staying?"

Giving Rift one last squeeze, she tried to break his embrace so she might properly greet Samantha, but the kid just refused to let her go. She held her arm out to the girl instead, waving her over. "Couple of days. Come here. God, look at you."

Samantha smirked, making her way over to Jasmine and putting her shoulder against Jasmine's side, letting herself be pulled into a hug. "People grow, Jasmine. It's a thing."

Jasmine snorted. "Smartass. And 'Sammy' now, huh?"

"Yeah," Samantha said, looking up at Jasmine, mischief sparking to life in her eyes. "Mom hates it."

Jasmine shook her head, leaning down to kiss the pre-teen's forehead. "Which means you love it, right?"

"Yep." The girl grinned, letting Jasmine go before tugging at her brother's shirt. "Come on, Rift. Mom said we need to finish our homework before Dad gets home. You can suffocate Jasmine later."

With a reluctant groan, Rift let go of Jasmine. "Okay." He looked back up at her. "Will you sit next to me at dinner?"

She smiled, ruffling his hair. "Sure."

Samantha looked over her shoulder as she and her brother made their way back to the family room. "Jessica's out with her boyfriend, and Angela's at softball practice. They're both supposed to be home for dinner," she said, rolling her eyes, "but they're always late."

Jasmine snorted and nodded. "Okay, thanks."

* * *

The door opened, light from the house spilling out into the night, temporarily ruining Jasmine's ability to make out shapes in the darkness around her. Geoffrey stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He handed her a glass before sitting down next to her on the stairs.

He took a drink before speaking, keeping his voice pitched low. "Why are we sitting out here in the dark?"

She sighed, lifting the glass of bourbon to her lips. "Trust building exercise."

"How's that?"

"They gave me a new handler before they let me go." She shrugged, her gaze sweeping the shadows across the street. "I want to make sure his 'take a month's leave and go see the sights' pitch didn't really mean 'I want to follow you and see where you go.'"

"Hmm. Seeing any eyes out here?" He swirled his tumbler around, the ice tinkling softly against the glass.

She shook her head, taking a sip of her drink. "Not yet."

"You think they're going to be out here with you sitting out in the open?" He cocked an eyebrow, just barely visible in the moonlight.

"Nope." She took a deep breath, sucking in the fresh night air until she'd filled her lungs to capacity and glanced up at the sky. "But I've been stuck in a little white room for four months."

Geoffrey hummed thoughtfully, his voice low and sympathetic when he asked, "Feeling claustrophobic inside?"

"A little, yeah." She turned her gaze back to him and forced a smile. "I'll be alright."

"Of course you will, kid. You're a fighter; a survivor. Always have been, as long as I've known you." He put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her into his side. "So, any ideas on where you'll be spending the rest of your leave?"

"Somewhere tropical," she said, already feeling the tug of Kahje in her heart, "lots of ocean, I think." Of course, her interest in the hanar homeworld had nothing to do with oceans; Jasmine couldn't care less about what natural wonders the planet held—Thane went there for his treatments, though, making it the most exciting planet in the galaxy.

"Sounds nice." Geoffrey's soft laugh did little to hide the tinge of sadness to his voice. "You know … it may not be beachfront, but you're more than welcome to spend your leave here."

She offered him a soft, regretful smile. "I know …."

He nodded, taking a swallow from his glass before turning his gaze up to the stars. "But you're missing someone else out there somewhere, aren't you?"

She cocked an eyebrow, pulling back a little to better look at him. "What makes you think so?"

"Just a hunch." He squeezed her shoulder before letting her go. "Am I wrong?"

She looked down at the tumbler cradled in her hands, the moon reflected in the dark amber liquid. After a moment she sighed. "No."

"Be careful, Jasmine. Okay, kiddo?" Genuine concern filled his voice, and it left her wondering just how much of her puzzle the man figured out.

He'd been nervous about Thane when she first told him about meeting the drell on the job. Why wouldn't he be? Thane handed Jasmine her ass in a handbasket that day, and she'd called Geoffrey to help soothe her wounded pride. He knew what Thane did for a living, just as he knew what she did, and even if Geoffrey didn't approve of her career trajectory, he cared about her as if she were his own. What father figure wouldn't be bothered by his pseudo-daughter hanging out with an assassin, even if she were one herself?

He'd watched her and Thane together when they'd said goodbye to Rift on the Citadel. Maybe he saw something there she wasn't ready to accept back then, or hell, maybe Rift just decided to tell Geoffrey that he thought Jasmine wanted to kiss Thane. Either way, she felt pretty sure the man knew exactly who she intended to go see. She wished she could tell him what she knew deep in her core: Thane loved her. Real love; not the psycho version Leon showed her. Thane wasn't anywhere close to being a threat to her and, in fact, she believed he'd risk his own life to try and save her from any danger that crossed her path.

"It'll destroy us if something happened to you," Geoffrey said, tearing her from her internal musings. He paused to take a drink and then added, "This whole thing you just went through, I know you can't give me the details, but it's left me a nervous wreck these last few months. Just ask Karin."

She looked out at the night, gaze stopping on every shadow. "I know, and I'm sorry. I'd have called you but they cut off all communication."

"I'm just glad you're okay." He patted her knee. "Well, it's getting late. I've got to be up early in the morning, so I better head to bed. Rift's got your old room, so I set the cot up for you in Jessica's room."

"Thanks, Geoffrey." She glanced up at him, wanting to tell him how much he and his family meant to her. She wanted to say her life would be far worse if she'd never met him. She wanted to tell him what a wonderful man he truly was, but he already knew all of it, and a sudden gushing of emotions would only make him worry about her more. So, she smiled and just said, "Night."

He rubbed the top of her head on his way back up the stairs. "Goodnight, kiddo."

Jasmine leaned back against the stairs, propping her elbows on the step behind her and stretching her legs out in front of her. She took in another deep breath, holding it in her lungs until her head started to swim. Letting the air seep back out of her, she took a big swallow from her glass. Bourbon wasn't really her drink of choice, but damn if it didn't taste good just then. She threw her head back, dumping the last of the alcohol down her throat and looked up at the stars. There weren't many to be seen, too much light pollution on Earth, but she saw a few. And somewhere out there, among those stars, _her_ drell waited for her to find him—so she'd better get busy.

She sat her glass down on the stairs and stood up, stretching her arms up over her head. She'd find Thane, but first, she needed to make damn sure Isaac or one of The Bitch's thugs hadn't followed her. Sparing only a heartbeat's worth of time to acknowledge the painful memory of Leon, she activated the tactical cloak he gave her and disappeared, stepping into the night.

* * *

Thane hung his jacket in the closet of his room at the rehabilitation center. They assigned him a small studio on the premises, nothing more than an open space for living, a private bathroom, and a single closet. The facility itself required a code to get inside the building, and used cameras for security. He hardly considered the place secure, though, and the locks on individual rooms were laughable in their simplicity. He'd considered taking his own measures, but the people who ran the center needed access to his room to deliver assistance in the event of an emergency. He didn't dare risk someone getting hurt while trying to help him.

Reaching inside the pocket of his jacket, he pulled out the elastic hair band Jasmine left at his apartment on Illium. He ran his fingers over it, the loose strands of her hair it once held now so tightly woven around the elastic, they'd become inseparable. Smiling through the pain of his breaking heart, he pulled the band onto his wrist. Silly and probably overly sentimental to most, perhaps especially because he only needed to think of her to see her face in perfect detail, he still made a habit of sleeping with the hair band around his wrist at night and carrying it with him in his pocket during the day. He refused to let her go. She'd return to him, he just needed to be patient.

Tomorrow, he agreed to have dinner with his family after his treatments. The last few months, watching Kolyat— _his son_ —open his heart back up to Thane … as much as he missed Jasmine, he'd not trade his time spent with Kolyat for anything. He hoped to someday be able to introduce the two of them, after all, if not for Jasmine, he'd still be completely absent from his son's life. How foolish of him to have once convinced himself that his absence wouldn't bother the child; to think failing to be a regular presence in his son's life before Irikah's murder meant not being missed or needed after.

Thane felt certain his siha would care for his son, given the opportunity, but it pained him to admit he doubted the same might be said for Kolyat. He feared the boy would hate Jasmine, and hate him for loving her, if for no other reason than she wasn't Irikah. He loved them both, though, with a strength he once found unsettling. Now it only emboldened him to hope for a future, perhaps not the type of future Irikah once imagined they'd share, but one no less filled with love. Certainly a future that didn't involve him dying alone, as he'd imagined for himself after her death—asphyxiating after having his body slowly consumed by Kepral's Syndrome or perhaps shot or stabbed, having finally met his match in a contract.

_Or, simply becoming so calloused I fell from Arashu's grace, abandoned; left to be slaughtered in the hunt by Amonkira's own hand, before finally being given over to Kalahira's arms to be carried across the sea._

Tonight … tonight he'd work to strengthen his body, mind, and soul before giving in to the whims of his heart. He'd exercise, meditate, pray … and then make love to his siha and fall asleep with her in his arms—even if she wasn't really there with him. He wondered if she spent her nights remembering him. It saddened him, knowing her incapable of recalling the details of their time together as clearly as he did. The idea of his face fading from her memory terrified him because it might also mean he'd fade from her heart.

He took off his vest, hanging it next to his jacket before sitting down on the bed to remove his boots. He wished to see himself through her eyes; through her memories—know what she thought and felt when they were together. Did he feel as wonderful to her as she did to him? She'd handled his slip into memories of Irikah with such kindness and grace, working to soothe his pain, but did it hurt her despite her claims to the contrary? He wanted to promise her it'd never happen again, but he knew it'd be a promise he might not be able to keep. He prayed he at least found another opportunity to try and get it right for her.

Unbuttoning his pants, his head tilted to the side and he froze. He heard something. Not the sounds of someone moving in the halls outside his door—he'd accustomed to hearing the noises of the rehabilitation center—no, the sound he heard came from above. Letting his hand fill with raw biotic energy, he turned, trying to track the noise, but he didn't hear it again. Something new on the floor caught in his peripherals, he glanced down finding a small scrap of paper; a true rarity on Kahje.

He took hesitant steps forward, his gaze shifting back to the ceiling. His heart thumped in his chest, despite the warning flares in the back of his mind reminding him that he was exposed, in the open with no real cover and a potential enemy stalking him from above … a soft whisper, just beyond his hearing told him the moment he'd waited for since Jasmine left him on Illium finally arrived. Reaching the paper, he squatted down next to it, picking it up with his gaze on the vent above. Standing up again, he backed away, not turning his gaze to the scrap in his hand until he'd made his way back to the closet—his pistol within reach just inside.

The impression of pursed lips, just a faint shine on the paper tinged in pink, stood out next to neat, human script. " _Your turn. A human on Kahje … can't be too hard to find."_

His smile, so strong and fierce as it spread across his face, made the muscles of his cheeks ache. Heart swelling, he felt breathless in a way having nothing to do with his illness. Lifting the card closer to his face, he inhaled deeply, catching traces of the scent of some unfamiliar fruit, stirring memories of the taste of her lips.

_She's here._

Lifting his gaze back to the ceiling one last time, he spun on his heel, yanking his vest and jacket back out of the closet. Picking his boots back up, too, he clutched them all to his chest, rushing to his bed. He tossed the vest and jacket on the mattress, dropping his boots to the floor before looking at the paper again. He grazed his fingers over the lip print before rubbing them together, letting the scented gloss soak into his scales, touching his fingers to his own mouth. Setting the paper down next to his jacket, as careful as if it were made of spun glass, he started getting dressed again.

* * *

Finding her had been simple, almost alarmingly so. If not for knowing she wanted to be found—wanted _him_ to find her—he'd be seriously concerned for her safety. Although unlikely anyone on Kahje meant her harm, being the only human in a city filled with drell meant she was twice as impossible to forget, and she'd made sure she'd been seen by many. Most of those he asked showed no qualms discussing the unexpected presence of the human woman walking amongst them, and within a half hour, someone pointed him in the direction of the hotel where she'd rented a room.

He watched her from the shadows of the rafters. He could've easily knocked on her door, but this … this was what she wanted. The chase. The hunt. Even if she'd made herself easy prey by way of welcome. He waited, testing a theory as much as savoring the moment, his eyes drinking in her every movement. She always seemed to know when he watched her, even with her back turned, if he let his gaze linger on her for very long. How long until she felt him watching now? He'd noticed something similar in other humans from time to time, particularly the human drala'fa; he thought it some adaptation evolution bestowed on their species, a means of alerting them to danger, but he never met anyone as attuned with the instinct as she seemed to be. He wondered how much of it came from training, and how much from her time living on the streets of Earth as a child—a drala'fa in her own right.

Jasmine paced the floor below him, her teeth worrying her lower lip, a habit of hers which always seemed to captivate him. She came to an abrupt stop, her shoulders tensing, and he smiled. Turning, her gaze swept over the room before lifting up to the rafters. Lips parting when she found him, a warm, inviting smile spreading across her face; the light dancing in her rainforest eyes making them shine like precious gemstones.

"Hi." She bit her lip again, tucking her hands in her back pockets.

He turned, grabbing the edge of the rafter he perched on and swung himself down, hanging for a second before dropping to the floor below. His legs already propelling him forward before he'd fully straightened from the landing, he took her in his arms, claiming her mouth with his own. She leaned into him, hands clinging to the back of his head and neck, pulling him closer. Her tongue and pleading—perhaps demanding—whimpers filled his mouth. He tugged at her shirt, lifting it enough to splay his hands out against her bare skin, moaning at her warmth, real and solid against his scales. His heart raced, it felt so wonderful to touch her again it nearly brought tears to his eyes, but it wasn't enough.

He broke the kiss, moving his mouth to the expanse of the exposed skin of her neck, trailing his tongue over her pulse before nipping at it with his teeth, delighting in the throaty gasp it tore from her. "Hello, siha," he whispered in her ear, rubbing his frills against her jaw. "I missed you."

"God, I missed you, too." Her hands worked their way beneath his jacket pushing it back off his shoulders, but he refused to let go of her long enough for it to be removed completely. She abandoned the fruitless task and instead wedged a hand between them, deft fingers working to undo the buckles of his vest. The fingers of her other hand skirted over his frills before settling against the side of his face. Her voice raw and filled with longing, she whispered, "I missed you so much it hurt."

He pulled back, bringing his hands up to cradle her jaw, fingers resting just below her ears on either side. The undeniable moisture in her eyes filled him with grief. He didn't want her to hurt, ever. More pressing, he never wanted to be a source of pain for her, but some things simply weren't within his control. So many questions filled his mind, and so much more he wanted to tell her, but for the moment, all he needed was to just be with her.

He swallowed, brushing his thumbs over her cheeks. "It's been painful for me, too. I've been so worried for you, and I can't express how overjoyed I am to have you here with me now." Sweeping a thumb over her lips, he brought his mouth closer to hers. "I love you, siha."

"I love you, too, Thane." Closing the little space between them, she kissed him, her lips a soft, momentary caress against his.

She pulled the last buckle of his vest loose and slid the zipper free. Pushing the leather aside, she pressed her hand flat over his heart and sighed, as if the moment brought her some great relief, removing some tremendous burden from her shoulders. He supposed if her feelings mirrored his even in the slightest, then feeling his heartbeat against her palm must feel like the first rays of sunshine after a long, cold night spent fearing morning might never arrive.

Smiling, he moved his hand to hers, holding it there against his chest, humbled by her love for him in the moment. Tilting her chin up, he kissed her again, simply letting his lips linger on hers. After a moment, though, her lips parted, teasing his mouth open with her tongue; stoking the fire already coursing through his veins. Oh, how he wanted to feel more of her—all of her—and it appeared, she wanted the same.

She resumed her attempts to divest him of his clothing, tugging and shoving at his jacket and vest until he relented. Letting go of her, he allowed her to remove them, and with a triumphant grin, she dropped them to the floor at his feet. Her hands ran over the planes of his chest before moving up to his shoulders, sweeping along his neck before dragging her fingers down to his abdomen, tracing scars she helped to heal—filling him with warmth and desperate need. Lifting her gaze to his, she let him see the same hunger smoldering in her eyes before returning her lips to his.

Hooking his fingers under the hem of her shirt, he edged it up, stopping to hold the weight of her breasts in his palms as he rubbed his thumbs over the lacey fabric of her bra. It was one of the things she showed him, one of the ways her body responded to his touch when they made love. Nipples hardening, pushing against the cloth, she moaned into his mouth and arched her back. Lifting her shirt a little higher, he broke the kiss, and she raised her arms, allowing him to pull the vivid blue article of clothing over her head.

He let it fall to the floor, dismissing it completely from his mind as he leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder. Sliding the strap of her bra down her arm, he trailed his tongue over the swell of her breast. She reached behind her and a moment later her bra fell slack, slipping away from her at the slightest touch to join her shirt on the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her face against his frills, her breasts pressing against his bare chest, and it felt, quite simply, perfect.

He pulled her closer—close enough, when he focused, he felt her heart beating against him—and breathed in her scent. Her hair smelled like grapefruit and papaya again, the way she smelled when they first met. Her skin smelled of rain and the ocean—as most things on Kahje did—but just beneath, he picked up hints of something floral and pheremones that shouldn't appeal to someone of another species as much as they called to him.

After a moment, she turned her face, pressing soft kisses to his throat. Running his fingers up and down her spine, he tilted his head, savoring the sensations she evoked in him. She stepped into him, bringing her lower body flush with his, the heat and pressure teasing his erection as her teeth nibbled at his frills. He moaned, his hand trailing down to the small of her back, pulling her in tighter against him.

He licked his lips, the strain in his throat telling him his voice would crack before he even spoke. "I want to make love to you, siha."

"Mhmm." She bit down a little harder, tearing a pleasure-filled gasp from him before pressing her lips to the same spot. "I can tell."

He chuckled, the mischief in her voice only making him want her more. Moving his hand down to squeeze the curve of her rear, he asked, "Do you intend to make me beg?"

Her mouth moved to the other side of his throat, licking and biting; driving him slowly mad with want. "Mmm. With your sexy voice? Tempting, but no, I'm not going to make you beg."

He pulled back to find her gaze, raising a brow ridge. "You think my voice is sexy?"

"Christ, yes. I think everything about you is sexy." She ran her teeth over her lip and smirked. "Always have."

It was an intriguing discovery, one he'd most certainly use to his advantage, and if she liked the idea of hearing him beg … he'd use that, too. "Please, siha." He brushed his thumb over her lips, grinning when she captured it between her teeth. "Please. I'll do whatever you ask of me."

She laughed, throwing her head back. "I already said you don't need to beg."

Taking advantage of her exposed throat, he nuzzled against her neck, nipping, and licking his way to her ear. "Jasmine, please, allow me to make love to you."

She groaned, as if dismayed, but it failed to hide her racing pulse or the hitch in her breathing.

"I want to feel all of you—taste all of you, please." He reached up, pulling her hair free and slipping the hair band around his wrist next to the other one. Sliding his fingers through her hair, he made a fist, reveling in the sounds she made and the feel of her chest heaving against his. Bringing his other hand to her breast, he trapped her nipple between his thumb and finger, squeezing gently as he rolled it back and forth. "I want—I _need_ to be inside of you, I'm begging you, _please_." He did it again, adding a little more pressure when she gasped, her fingers kneading at his neck and shoulders. He poured every ounce of his need for her into his voice. " _Sweet Arashu, Jasmine, please_."

Tugging at his crest, she pulled his head back, barely giving him the chance to see the overwhelming heat in her eyes before her mouth crushed down on his. Tongue delving into his mouth, she put a hand on his chest, urging him back toward the bed without releasing her hold on him. Lifting her, he wrapped her legs around his waist and turned, carrying her to the bed. She clung to him as he lowered her down to the mattress, _growling_ at him when he pulled away. Chuckling, he looked down at her, his gaze roaming over her flushed skin, and swollen lips, her breasts rising up as if to meet him with her every, staggered breath.

_My beautiful siha._

He kicked his socks and shoes off before helping her do the same. He pressed a knee to the mattress between her legs and leaned over her, tugging the button and zipper of her pants free. Using his palms to support his weight on either side of her shoulders, he kissed her. She pulled his lip between her teeth, tugging at it before releasing him.

Grinning, he moved to her jaw, nibbling at the delicate bone before licking and kissing his way down to her chest. He brought a hand to her breast, kneading and caressing. Running his tongue over the nipple, he sucked it into his mouth for further exploration when she moaned. Her every approving sound made him want to spend eternity with her, in the little hotel room locked away from everything else, while he learned all there was to know about her. She arched her back, fingers clutching his shoulders as she wrapped her leg around the back of his knee.

He kissed and caressed his way down over her abdomen, trailing his tongue over her skin here and there. She twitched, sucking in a sharp breath when he scraped his teeth over her hip bone, just barely visible over the waistband of her pants. He smelled her arousal, felt the warmth radiating from her, even through her clothing. If she allowed, he'd taste her there, too. He wanted to know if he could send her over the edge with his mouth and hands alone.

She lifted her hips, letting him tug her pants and undergarment down her legs, the scent of her need flooding the air as he exposed the source. Dropping the last of her clothes to the floor beside the bed, he took the opportunity to look at her in her entirety. The last time they were together—the first time—things were laden with the burden of trouble just on the horizon, and they rushed to join with one another, desperate to hold on to the moment before the chance was taken away from them. As much as he looked forward to being inside of her, he didn't want to rush the moment. He wanted to get it right, all of it, for her, and he wanted to commit every centimeter of her to memory because he didn't know how long it'd be before they had to part ways again.

He ran his fingers over the coarse mound of hair trailing down between her legs, and she spread her legs, letting her bent knees fall to the sides, revealing herself fully to him. So similar to his own species in many ways, yet so different in others; the intricacies of her sex organs intrigued as much as they excited him. Delicate folds, slick to the point of near shining with the fluids of her arousal, gave way to an opening that didn't seem as if it should be able to accommodate what he had to offer, but he'd spent many nights remembering what it felt like for her stretch around him, accepting him completely.

He glanced up at her face, surprised to find wariness and vulnerability lurking behind the lust in her eyes, making him hesitate. "Have I made you uncomfortable? Do you … do you want to do something else instead?" His breath caught in his throat and he held it there, dreading the idea she'd ask him to stop. He would, of course, if she wished, but it was the furthest thing from what he wanted. Still, the idea he might've made her uncomfortable troubled him.

She smiled and shook her head, the mixed emotions easing back in her gaze. "Not even a little."

Relieved, he let go of the pent up breath and returned her smile. "You are so beautiful, my siha."

"Thank you." A soft blush filled her cheeks and he knew he'd said the right thing, what she needed to hear from him. She grinned, a spark of humor burning away the remnants of doubt in her eyes. "So are you."

Resting a hand on her knee, he chuckled, dipping his head to her. "Thank you."

Sliding his hand down her thigh, he held her gaze, gauging her reactions. Encouraged by the hitch in her breathing and her hooded eyes, he brushed over the hair between her legs again. He continued down until he found the warm wetness just beyond, coating his fingers in it as he familiarized himself with each miniscule curve. She gasped, her eyelids fluttering as she stopped breathing for a moment. The muscles in his groin spasmed at the sound, his body begging to reunite with hers again. He tried retracing his steps, wanting to hear the noise from her again, but either he'd mistaken what triggered her response, or it simply failed to produce the same result.

He licked his lips, his throat feeling strained and dry. "Show me how best to touch you," he said, and then added with a smirk, "I beg of you."

* * *

She snorted, rolling her eyes at him, but still she bit her lip and pushed herself up on her elbows. "Come here." She reached for him, smiling when he did as she asked, sliding her arms around his neck to urge him closer. "Kiss me."

He shifted his weight, stretching out beside her, his body pressed against hers but his hand stayed resolutely between her legs. She took her time, her tongue moving in lazy circles around his, savoring every second of being with him after spending so much time alone, longing for his touch. Jasmine learned early on to embrace her sexuality, and to own her pleasure. Her orgasm; her responsibility.

She knew what she liked, and usually didn't have any problem giving directions to the occasional clueless lover. Yet there he was asking her to show him the ins and outs of getting her off, and her heart acted as if she'd run a marathon, leaving her hands trembling. It felt different with _him_. What he wanted, what he liked, made him feel good … what he thought when he looked at her, when he touched her … actually _mattered_ and just the thought he might not find something about her attractive almost became more than her delicate ego could stand.

Annoyed by the level of courage it seemed to take, she ran her hand down his arm, settling her fingers over his. Moving his hand under her guidance, his fused fingers found her opening, dipping just barely inside of her before dragging her wetness back up to swirl around the bundle of nerves just above her clitoris. She knew many women who lost their minds over direct stimulation to their clits, who loved it when she nudged the hood back and went to town on the little nub so many men had trouble finding, but for Jasmine it felt too sensitive—creating discomfort not pleasure most of the time.

Thane picked up her directions much faster than most others, which really wasn't all too surprising for someone who spent most of his life training to develop exceptional muscle control and attention to fine details. The pads of his fused fingers worked the bundle of nerves, sliding up, down, and around in small circles with just the right amount of pressure, building her closer and closer to orgasm. There was more she wanted to show him, though, more she wanted to feel.

She urged his hand back down, lining his fingers up with her opening before guiding him inside, curling her body up to meet his hand, pushing his fused digits deeper inside. Without having to be shown, his thumb picked up the gentle massage against her nerves, the combined sensations sending a wave of pleasure through her, making her shudder. He pulled his mouth from hers; fine by her for the moment because she found she'd begun to neglect the necessity of breathing.

Relaxing back on the pillow, she let herself get lost in the moment, her eyes fluttering closed—feeling lips and tongue work their way back over her body, teeth sinking into her flesh here and there, stopping just before the sensation shifted to pain. He continued to move his hand, fingers sliding in and out, moving back and forth inside of her, thumb rubbing small circles until it disappeared and something warm, wet, and absolutely fantastic took its place. She opened her eyes just long enough to see his face buried between her legs, his tongue just as easily finding a rhythm to make her insides ache for release.

Soon, she couldn't keep herself from rocking her hips against his hand, which only seemed to make him more determined. Squeezing her breasts, she pinched her nipples, sending waves of pleasure rolling down her body to meet the ones working their way up from Thane's ministrations below. Everything felt hot and tight, filled to the brim, and she knew she was near to bursting. "Don't stop." The words rushed from her, barely more than a whisper. "Oh, God … please don't stop."

And then the undertow found her, dragging her down into the depths, shockwaves exploding through her, leaving a lightning show on the back of her eyelids. She cried out, bucking against him before her back arched, her joints locking in place, keeping her from moving, not even breathing until the undertow released her again. She collapsed back to the bed, flotsam being washed back to shore, gentle waves still lapping at her as she sucked in ragged breath after ragged breath.

He slid his fingers free, pulling another shudder from her body, before nuzzling against her thigh, leaving it wet with a mix of her own juices and his saliva. Kissing his way back up, he braced himself over her. Her arms, though just as weak as every other part of her, jumped at the chance to wrap around him as soon as he came within easy reach. She felt him staring down at her, and she opened her eyes, finding a warm, satisfied smile on his face.

She pulled him down, her mouth seeking his, tasting herself on his tongue. Reaching between them, she palmed his hard-on, disappointed to realize he still wore his pants. He groaned, pressing himself into her hand, reigniting a hunger in her twice as strong as before. Squeezing just a little, she rocked her hand back and forth, savoring the sounds he made. He stopped kissing her, his breathing rapid and shallow as he rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed.

She pulled at the button of his pants. "I want you inside of me."

He lifted his head, meeting her gaze, his brow quirking as if it shocked him to think she'd want more.

She grinned, raising her eyebrows in challenge. "Unless you've changed your mind?"

"No, siha." He brushed his lips over hers. "I want you more than ever."

* * *

It wasn't an exaggeration. He ached to be inside of her with an overwhelming strength he assumed he needed to fight against; believing she'd want time to recover. He still tasted the tartness of her when he licked his lips, felt the way her insides tightened against his fingers whenever he blinked, and heard the primal sounds ripped from her throat as her pleasure took her—pleasure _he_ brought her—every time she breathed. And it left him feeling unbalanced, intoxicated with lust.

He didn't hesitate to lend a hand when she struggled with his zipper, growling her frustration as she nipped at his lip in complaint. Leaving her felt like the worst kind of crime, but it'd be far easier and far quicker to remove his pants if he stood, so he pushed himself off the bed. Her gaze followed him, eyes hungry as she tracked his movements. He worked the leather down over his hips before reaching inside of his pants, shifting his erection out of the way as he shoved the pants down his front. She bit her lip when he freed himself, and he admitted seeing the look in her eyes as her gaze roamed over him pleased him greatly, filling him with a sense of pride in his own flesh. Something he hadn't really felt in many years.

He stood there a moment, watching her watch him, and he soaked in her beauty, hair splayed out around her head, her skin aglow. She reached out to him, and he lowered himself to the bed, kneeling between her legs. Resting his weight on his palms, he kissed her as she took him in hand, the sudden, inviting heat and moisture of her slick folds as she guided him to her opening nearly undid him completely. He sucked in a deep breath, using it to center himself, reining in his base urges in order to take the time to fully enjoy being with her.

He pressed forward, easing himself inside of her, feeling her slowly expand around him, her body adjusting to accommodate him in the most amazing ways. She lifted her hips, pressing into him, urging him deeper. Her arms wrapped around him, tugging until he lowered himself to his elbows, his chest resting on hers; she sighed, seeming perfectly content to have him right in that very spot.

Finding a slow, steady rhythm, he lost himself in her, pushing away stray memories before they stole him away from her. She didn't want 'slow' for very long, though, if her movements beneath him and her nails skimming over his backside were any indication. Truth be told, his own body begged for something more vigorous. He thrust deeper, moving a little quicker, and she moaned, scraping her teeth over his frills. Ankles locking behind his thighs, she used him for leverage, encouraging him in his quest for stronger sensations while lifting up to meet his thrusts.

Before long, he felt the unmistakable pull of the voice in the back of his mind. It always started as a whisper, slowly growing louder until it couldn't be ignored, shifting into an all consuming roar of raw, instinctual demand. The voice howled for him now. He kissed her before pushing himself back to his palms, giving himself a better angle to move even faster. She still clung to him, but didn't complain or try to pull him back down.

Her head tilted back, her breathing becoming increasingly erratic, and she began tightening around him. The tension in his own muscles grew, spurring on his movement, his heart pounding against his ribs. Her fingers kneaded his rear and his back, her nails digging into his scales as she pulled him into her. The sound of her moans filled his ears, pushing him closer and closer to the edge.

"Fuck. Oh God. Fuck, fuck, fuck." Her chanted, barely whispered vulgarities might've confused him if not for the way she moved with him. "Oh fuck." She punctuated her words with a strangled cry.

Jasmine's entire body tensed beneath him save for the wildly fluttering muscles surrounding his shaft, pushing him to the point of no return. A few more thrusts and a growl tore free from his throat. He buried himself as deep inside of her as possible, muscles contracting and releasing before contracting again, emptying him of every drop. His shoulders sagged, the locked joints of his elbows and wrists the only thing keeping him from collapsing on top of her. He hung his head as he worked to get enough air into lungs.

"Come here," she said, her body relaxing once more as she urged him back to her.

He let her pull him down, their bodies pressed flush as she held him tight against her. Resting his head next to hers, he turned his face until he found clean, fresh air instead of rebreathing the used air rushing out of him, staying trapped between their bodies.

Her grip on him loosened, her fingers caressing his back, tracing the curve of his shoulder blade. "Mmm. I really needed this."

He smiled before lifting his head enough to kiss her temple. "As did I."


	3. Family

**Family**

Thane rolled to his side, propping his head up on his fist, watching the bathroom door until she came back out again. She met his gaze and grinned, her hips swaying, enticing him as she made her way to the bed. Crawling on hands and knees, she reached him, pressing her lips to his. He slid his hand through the silken strands of her hair, holding her there to feel her mouth linger on his. She nudged his shoulder, urging him to his back, before stretching her body out against his side and settling into the crook of his arm. Her fingers traced invisible patterns over his chest, and she sighed.

He smiled, his heart beating out a contented rhythm beneath her touch. There remained so many things they needed to discuss, but neither seemed interested in breaking the tranquil silence for the time being. Stroking her bare shoulder and back, he soaked in the velvet smoothness of her skin against his scales, no less thrilling after a night filled with love making and sleeping with her in his arms. Morning came way too fast, and far sooner than he'd like, he'd have to leave her bed and return to the rehabilitation center.

_Perhaps I can convince her to join me. It won't be exciting for her, but the time will pass so much more swiftly if she's there with me, and I won't have to be away from her. I wonder if I can convince her to read to me while I use the nebulizer, or perhaps even sing. She has such a lovely voice._

Jasmine groaned and buried her face against his side, pulling him from his thoughts.

"What's wrong, siha?" He ran his fingers over her hair, turning his head to get a better look at her.

"I'm hungry," she said, her words muffled against his ribs, "but I don't want to move and there's nothing to eat here."

He chuckled, gently easing her back until he could roll over to his side. One arm still beneath her head, he draped the other over her hip. "I have some time before I'm scheduled to see my doctor, we can go have breakfast together, or if you prefer, I can make us something back at the rehabilitation center."

"Mmmm. How are things with the treatments and everything?" The flicker of worry in her eyes warmed his heart.

Lifting his hand to trace the curve of her jaw, he smiled. "I'm well, Jasmine. I've made significant progress so far." He ran his thumb over her lips when she smiled. "I'll need to have tests run periodically and may need further treatments in the future, but my condition is completely manageable. I'll be able to leave Kahje in another month or two."

She pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth and quirked her eyebrows. "How do you feel about having company for a few weeks, then?"

His heart skipped a beat before quickening its pace. He'd been so sure they only had a few days together at most before she'd be gone again; feared asking how long she intended to stay in case she told him far less time.

Letting go of her lip, she turned her head a little until and kissed his thumb. "My new handler gave me a month's leave. I spent a couple of days on Earth with Geoffrey and his family before looking for you. I needed to make sure it wasn't a trick and no one followed me … but I figured I'd spend the rest of it here, if you're—"

He leaned in and kissed her, cutting off her words. "Nothing would make me happier." Overjoyed with the idea of having so much time with her after so much time apart—and so soon after they confessed their feelings for one another—he grinned, pulling her closer and kissed her again.

* * *

Jasmine took a sip of the still too hot  _cinuela_  and hummed appreciatively. "Yours is better, but this is still pretty damn good."

He smiled, lifting his own cup to blow across the surface. "I'm glad you approve."

"So Kolyat's been coming to see you?" She sat the cup down and picked up her fork—or whatever drell called the double-pronged, skewering eating utensil—her growling stomach insisting it no longer be ignored. "That's huge progress. How's it working out?"

"Indeed. It was a surprise the first day he came with his uncle to the hospital. He quickly became … upset with me, but we were both able to say a few things we needed to and shared in each other's emotions. A moment of catharsis, just as much for me as for him." He took a swallow from his cup before setting it back down on the table and picking at his food. "Since that day, things have slowly gotten easier. I've seen him every few days to share a meal or talk about what he's learning in school. In fact … my apologies, I should've mentioned it sooner, but I've agreed to have dinner at Rone's house tonight. I—I didn't know you'd be here …." He seemed so torn with his mouth hanging open and his brow furrowing deeper, it looked almost comical.

"You don't ever need to apologize for making plans with your family, Thane, and the last thing I'd want is for you to miss a second with your son because of me." She smirked lifting a piece of fruit to her mouth—something tropical and native to Kahje. "Besides, you know where to find me if you want to see me afterwards."

He surprised her by reaching across the table, holding his hand out to her. She didn't expect him to be so keen on the idea of public displays of affection, particularly on Kahje. Even his suggesting they go out to eat breakfast shocked her. She didn't question him, though, if he felt comfortable with it, then so did she. She slipped her hand into his and he closed his fingers around hers, giving them a gentle squeeze.

"I most certainly do." He smiled, a glint of lustful promise sparking in his eyes before softening into something else. "Thank you, siha, for being so understanding."

She snorted and took a sip from her cup. "Anyone who doesn't get you wanting to spend time with your son, isn't worth having in your life." Setting her cup down, she leaned a little further over the table, lowering her voice even though being tucked back in the corner of the little restaurant gave them relative privacy. "Neither is anyone who doesn't understand—all things considered—why they shouldn't expect introductions to be made." She tightened her grip on his hand when he dropped his gaze, urging him to look at her again. "Hey, it's okay. Really."

"Thank you." He squeezed her fingers, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand. "I'm not entirely certain  _I_  deserve  _you_."

She smirked and shrugged. "Well, I mean, I am pretty amazing."

He chuckled, letting go of her hand to return to his breakfast. "That you are. I do want you to meet, Kolyat, though. I just think he needs more time."

_What?_

She froze, fork halfway to her mouth. "Oh."

_Wow._

"That is, of course, if you'd like to meet him." He stilled, his face void of emotion—intentionally so, no doubt. "My apologies, I didn't mean to assume anything."

"Oh, no, I do!" Jasmine slapped her palm to her chest, unsurprised to feel the rapid flutter of her heart. "I'd love to meet him, I just didn't expect for it to be something you'd  _ever_  be comfortable with after everything …."

"I trust you, Jasmine, and I love you." He seemed to relax a little, the hard edges of his face softening once more. "I never would've told you about him, let alone spoken his name to you if I didn't feel certain no matter where you and I stand, you'd never seek to harm him to get to me."

"Of course not, and I know you'd never go after the people I care about either, but I still—I'd love to meet him sometime, when you think he's ready." She cleared her throat and took a drink of her  _cinuela_. She needed some time to process. She didn't swear to understand how healthy, normal relationships were supposed to work—and hell, there wasn't much normal about either of their lives—but meeting her lover's kid, seemed like a pretty big deal.

Frowning, his gaze searched her face. "I've made you uncomfortable."

"No," she said, taking a deep breath and letting out a soft laugh at her own expense, "I don't exactly have a lot of experience with serious relationships. Leon …" She swallowed, shoving back the little ache in her chest. "Leon's the closest I ever got, and he sucked. He wasn't good to me  _or_  for me. Hell, I didn't even know he had a family until I spied on him on Illium, years after we broke up. So this," she said, removing her hand from her chest to wave between the two of them, "and everything that goes with there being an 'us', is all pretty much new territory for me. And I guess, I just don't always know how I'm supposed to feel or react to things, but I love you and trust you, too."

He smiled, a soft, almost sad twitch of his lips. "I think we both have a lot to learn about relationships." Putting down his fork, he propped his elbows on the table and clasped his hands in front of his face. "Irikah understood these things. She tried to share her wisdom with me, but so much of it I failed to hear." His voice took on the heavy, sorrow laden tones she'd heard before when he spoke of his wife. Shaking his head, he looked down at his hands. "I wasn't good to her. I didn't know how to be and it scared me, confused me … insulted me. So I stopped trying without ever really meaning to." He met her gaze again and took a deep breath. "I want to be good to you, siha, and I intend to do my best for you, but I can't even begin to say I know what it entails. So, if ever there is something you need from me; if ever I'm not giving enough—or perhaps I'm giving too much—I promise I will listen, but you have to be willing to tell me."

She huffed but smiled, turning the fork over and over in her fingers. "So, no pressure on either of us or anything."

"Indeed."

* * *

Thane straightened his jacket and pushed the buzzer for Rone's house. He'd taken care to cleanse himself of Jasmine's scents before leaving the rehabilitation center. If he wasn't prepared to introduce her to them, then it'd definitely be unwise to show up for dinner smelling of her. Still, she lingered with him, her voice whispering in his mind and phantom fingers trailing over his scales.

After sitting with him for his treatment, she'd returned with him to his room, and although they'd only intended to have tea together, somehow much more happened. He learned Jasmine was prone to biting and digging her fingernails into his shoulders while trying not to cry out with her ecstasy, and he still felt her marks on his flesh every time he moved. She'd probably torn a few scales loose, but he felt certain some of the other residents heard them regardless. Clearing his throat, when he heard the door opening, he eased her from his mind and fixed an image of Kolyat firmly in her place.

Rone's wife, Kelena, answered the door, offering him a soft smile before stepping aside and gesturing for him to enter. "Thane, welcome. It is good to see you again."

"As it is to see you, Kelena." He stepped over the threshold, waiting for her to lead the way into her home. "I hope you've been well."

"I have, thank you." She dipped her head, leading him down the hall to where he could hear several others talking in hushed voices. "I have been told the treatments you are receiving have been most effective; this pleases me to know."

The hall opened up into a sitting room, traditionally furnished in muted colors with low, squat chairs arranged around a table just as close to the floor. Everyone stood when he entered, and Thane stopped. He didn't expect Aleha and Drali to be joining them let alone know what to make of their presence; particularly Aleha who, last he heard, disfavored his reunion with Kolyat. The pinched look on her face told him she still didn't approve, and seeing it felt like salt on fresh wounds. He doubted it'd disturb him so much if it not for how much she looked like her sister; the same rounded face with pale, multi-hued ocular scales and nearly identical markings, and—Arashu's grace, Aleha was with child. He blinked, averting his gaze from the telling swell of his sister-in-law's abdomen.

Kolyat caught his eye and smiled. "Hello, Father. Please, join us."

"Of course," Thane said, moving to Kolyat's side to rest a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Hello, my son, you look well." Taking a seat next to him as everyone sat back down, Thane smiled when Kolyat took it upon himself to pour him a cup of tea. "Thank you," he said, accepting the cup and taking a sip of the warm, fruity  _elocol_. Letting his gaze settle on Irikah's siblings, he sat the cup down and smiled. "Drali, Aleha, it's good to see you both."

Rone was the oldest, and by far the most centered of Irikah's family. He looked like her in some ways, particularly when he smiled, but the comparison paled when next to Aleha. A little more than a year younger than Irikah, Aleha looked enough like her sister anyone without a drell or a salarian's perfect memory might easily confuse the two of them. Until Aleha spoke, at least. Their personalities were nothing alike. Where Irikah had been passionate and strong-willed, Aleha remained stern, a traditionalist through and through, but utterly lacking in anything close to passion. The woman allowed herself to be ruled by the ideals of order and her role within drell and hanar society. In many ways, he saw some of himself in the younger woman.

Drali, on the other hand, was something else entirely. Utterly free-spirited, the youngest child left Kahje at the first opportunity. He spent years traveling throughout the galaxy in his youth, only settling back on Kahje permanently after Irikah's death to help care for Kolyat. Another life course altered by Thane's mistakes. The opportunity to meet Drali only presented itself on three occasions, when his visits home happened to coincide with the other drell's, but they'd gotten along well enough.

Taller than all of his siblings and also lithe, Drali possessed a narrow build while Rone, Irikah, and Aleha all carried a broader frame with a more defined musculature and curves. The older three primarily had tones of green with subtle areas of teal or blue, especially along their markings, but Drali's scales were the color of sand in most places. Thane knew—from Irikah's descriptions of her brother—red rimmed Drali's black markings, but the color difference remained indistinguishable to his eyes.

He never met her parents—Irikah's mother passed away from Kepral's Syndrome, and her father worked the mines on an asteroid in the Relic system—but she once told him Drali took after their mother while she and the others looked like their father. Even after his time back on Kahje, it seemed clear Drali clung to the bits of other cultures he'd picked up in his travels. The clothing he wore looked to be of asari influence, and he sat with a posture Thane most commonly saw in human males.

He smiled at Thane, tilting his head back in acknowledgement as opposed to lowering his chin—as Thane saw many humans and turians do—and lifted his hand in a half wave. "It's been a long time. I wasn't sure I believed Rone when he said you came back to Kahje." Drali nodded, his gaze sweeping over Thane. "You look good. The Kepral's withered Mother so fast, it's good to see it hasn't done the same to you."

Aleha hissed, turning her gaze on her younger brother. "Drali, we need not speak of such distressing things, especially while Kolyat is present." She turned her attention back to Thane and dipped her head, folding her hands in her lap. "You do look well," she said, her voice and expression lacking any indication her statement meant anything more than she'd made a simple observation.

Thane cleared his throat and picked his cup back up from the table, more for something to occupy himself with than for want of a drink. "Thank you. Both of you. Indeed, I have been lucky."

"I do not find the topic distressing," Kolyat said, squaring his shoulders. "I heard the nurse tell Father it is likely his strict adherence to an exercise routine and his time away from Kahje has kept the disease from progressing at a faster rate." Pausing, he turned his attention to Drali despite the exasperated sigh Aleha gave him. "Perhaps it is not luck, but the differences in lifestyle between Father and Grandmother that is to be credited."

Rone chuckled, earning him a glare filled with ire from Aleha. He picked up his cup and took a sip before setting it back down, adjusting it on the cloth until it sat just so. "Kolyat, please do not antagonize your aunt."

Kolyat lifted his chin, a spark of defiance shining bright in his eyes. "My apologies, I do not intend to antagonize her, Uncle, but I am not an infant. There is no need for Uncle Drali to avoid speaking of these things simply because I am here."

Drali laughed, the sound like wooden wind chimes, immediately easing the tension in the room. "Oh, but he is Irikah's child."

Thane smiled despite the dull ache being there, with Irikah's spirit hanging over them all, brought for him. "Indeed he is."

Kolyat grinned, seeming quite pleased with the implied comparison, and it filled Thane with warmth and pride.

"Very well, Kolyat. You are right, you are no longer a small child in need of coddling." Aleha offered him a soft smile. "Perhaps the conversation is merely distressing to me, my apologies. I worry, far more, now that I am expecting my own child."

"Congratulations," Thane offered once she brought the subject up on her own. "May Arashu watch over you both."

Her smile faltered when she glanced at him, but she dipped her head. "Thank you, and may she watch over you as well."

Rone held his hand out to his wife, an unspoken question pulling his brow ridge up. She smiled, slipping her hand into his and nodded.

"There is something Kelena and I would like to announce. We wished to wait until we could tell everyone in person, it is why we have invited all of you here tonight." He glanced at his wife again, but she only dipped her head. Turning his attention back to the group, his gaze finally settled on Kolyat. "Kelena is also with child."

Thane muttered his congratulations, undoubtedly lost in the din as all the others began talking at once. Even Aleha let her excitement show, standing and moving around the table to pull Kelena into an embrace before kissing her brother on the cheek. If he'd felt out of place a moment before, the intensity certainly increased with the announcement. He hoped, for Kolyat's sake, the news didn't change anything for Rone and Kelena in regards to the security of his son's position within their household. Surely Rone would allow Thane to help pay for Kolyat's expenses with a child of his own on the way? It was the least he could do if the man agreed to continue to look after Kolyat.

_What if they decide taking care of Kolyat is too much, even with financial assistance? I doubt Aleha and her husband are willing to take him in, they've not been a large part of Kolyat's life so far, from what Rone's implied, not to mention she's carrying a child of her own. Drali … well, he does seem to have settled into his years, perhaps …. He'd want to know why I don't take Kolyat myself, and I'd have to tell him the truth. Still, he'd be a better choice than I._

His heart slammed against his ribs, the thought of there being any chance he might have to take guardianship over Kolyat scared him more than he imagined. Even if he took everything he'd saved, retired, and found a place to settle down to raise his son on his own while working a normal job, Kolyat would  _never_  be safe in his care. There'd  _always_ be the chance someone might come looking for Thane again, seeking revenge for a life he took under contract.

_What's changed since Irikah's death? I still don't know how to be a father. Kolyat's older now, though, nearly fourteen. His needs won't be the same as when we last shared a home. He's becoming a man now, what influence would I be for him. And what of Jasmine?_

He hated himself for even considering her a factor in such a decision, but he refused to ignore the happiness she brought him or how acutely he'd feel the loss if she weren't a part of his life. If forced to choose, he'd choose his son; always. He didn't believe for a second Jasmine would ever ask such a thing of him, but Kolyat might.

What life could they have—would Kolyat have—under such circumstances? She'd made it clear she didn't have any intention of a career change, and despite his past attempts to change her mind, she remained unswayed. He told her once before he didn't want to change her anymore, either, and he didn't. Their ability to accept one another for who they were and what they did meant everything to him; it brought them closer. Which also meant he could hardly expect her to settle down in one spot to be with him and his son. Even then, if she continued on as an assassin, her work—given time—just as easily made Kolyat a target to her enemies. Not to mention, he might not entirely understand relationships, but he felt  _entirely certain_  asking her for such a commitment would be far too much too soon. Anything less, though, might hurt Kolyat—confuse him as to why his father involved himself with someone who never stayed with them, even after the heartache Thane's absence caused Irikah. After the heartache his absence caused Kolyat.

In the commotion, Drali squatted down in front of him. The sudden intrusion ripped Thane from his overwhelming thoughts and very nearly provoked a reflexive palm strike to the other drell's nose. Concern showed in the tight line of Drali's mouth. The light caught in the myriad of greens and browns of the man's eyes, reflecting Thane's own terror back at him.

"Are you alright?" Drali's gentle voice barely reached Thane's ears.

Thane blinked and opened his mouth to speak, not really knowing what he meant to say, but Drali saved him from trying to find some excuse to cover his obvious discomfort.

Nodding, as if answering his own question, Drali plastered a wide grin on his face and stood, turning to the others; effectively blocking Thane from sight. "This is cause for celebration! Thane and I are going to the market for dessert. Any special requests?"

* * *

"What do you think?" Drali held up a bottle of wine, showing Thane the label.

Thane chuckled and shook his head. "I think we're having dinner with two pregnant women and a child."

Drali shrugged. "Sure, but doesn't it just leaves more for us and Rone?"

"I'm not much for alcohol," Thane said, waving his hand, "and it's been forbidden while I'm on triheptate."

His brother-in-law sighed, tilting his head back to gaze at the ceiling. "Very well, for Rone and I, then."

Thane smiled when Drali turned a hopeful look his way. "I don't recall Rone being one to drink often either … but it is a celebration."

Drali grinned, paying for the wine before putting the bottle in the basket he carried draped over his forearm. He started walking again, moving on to the next stall, and glanced over his shoulder at Thane. "So … what happened back there at the house?" It seemed he'd lost all taste for the drell-adopted version of hanar etiquette during his travels, as well.

Thane let out a soft huff and scraped his thumbnail over his brow. "I'm afraid I allowed the moment to overwhelm me. My apologies, but thank you for giving me the opportunity to collect myself."

"I'm glad I could help." Drali stopped to browse fresh pastries, thankfully not pushing the issue. "It's good you reached out, Thane. I know Rone seemed apprehensive at first, but I think it's been a positive experience for him, too, not just Kolyat."

"This pleases me to hear." Thane stopped, spotting a few boxes of asari chocolates like those he bought for Jasmine on Illium; apparently they were popular enough to be imported on Kahje. Perhaps he'd drop by the markets again on his way to see her.

"You want chocolates?" Drali asked, returning to Thane's side. He picked up one of the boxes and turned it over in his hand.

A smile tugged at Thane's lips. "No, seeing them just reminded me of … someone I met on the Citadel."

Drali arched his brow ridges, a sly smile spreading across his face. "Someone special?"

Thane chuckled, ignoring the heat spreading over his frills and pushing away memories of his time with Jasmine before they swept him away. He brushed aside the question and pointed to a bin filled with a variety of candied nuts and berries—apparently a favorite of Aleha's. Drali asked the merchant to fill a box and paid for them, slipping the container into the basket before moving on.

"You didn't answer my question." He glanced at Thane, apparently unwilling to also let the new subject go. "Was it someone special?"

Thane took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Keeping his gaze straight ahead of them, he let the air seep from his lungs. "Perhaps."

"Good."

Thane glanced at him, his brow ridges lifted in surprise.

Drali laughed and put his hand on Thane's shoulder, pulling him to a stop. "Irikah would've wanted you to move on with your life. Why shouldn't I be pleased to know you have? It's been more than four years, Brother, nearly five." He started walking again. "We may not have had the chance to spend much time around one another, but I think I know you well enough to safely guess you didn't tumble into bed with the first man or woman you came across." Glancing at Thane, he smirked. "Now I, on the other hand, might've."

Thane chuckled and shook his head. "No, I most certainly didn't rush into anyone's bed. Quite the opposite, I admit. Only recently have I been able to allow myself to get close to another again." They walked in silence for a few steps before he spoke again, "I will never completely move on from Irikah, though. She's the mother of my child, and the first woman I ever loved."

Drali hummed, switching the basket to his other arm. "But not the last?"

"No," Thane said, giving him a slow shake of his head, "not the last."

"Love is good for the soul, Thane." Drali put his hand between Thane's shoulder blades for a moment, using the contact to emphasize his gentle words.

"Indeed." Thane glanced to the side, studying the other drell. "And you, Brother? Have you found love?"

Drali laughed and met Thane's gaze. "I have loved many, and will love many more, but like The Unwed, I can't imagine ever binding myself to any one person."

Thane hummed, watching the easy way Drali smiled and interacted with the crowd around him, the obvious charisma he possessed, as he made more purchases. Thane realized, in a moment of sudden clarity, why exactly he felt so comfortable around the younger drell—Drali reminded him of Jasmine. He smiled, thinking it truly a sign of Arashu's grace he'd met Jasmine first, otherwise, he thought his siha might be quite taken with his brother-in-law instead.

Once they started moving again, Thane said, "I admit, I'm relieved you are so accepting of the idea of my being with someone else. It's a topic I've dreaded addressing. I feared Irikah's family—Kolyat especially—might not take the news well."

Drali shrugged. "It might be difficult for Kolyat, but your son is strong. He's been through far more than most his age, and he has a lot of his mother in him. Rone … I think he'll be able to accept it if you choose to tell him."

"And Aleha?"

Drali scoffed, and waved a hand dismissively. "Do you really care what Aleha thinks?"

Thane took a moment to consider before nodding. "I do."

"You shouldn't." Drali stopped walking and turned to Thane, looking down at him with raised brow ridges. "Caring what that one thinks will age you twenty years in a day."

"Indeed." Thane laughed, but his mirth didn't last long. "I'd almost forgotten how much she looks like Irikah. It's painful to see a face so much like hers carrying the marks of so much disdain directed toward me."

* * *

"Father, I have something for you." Kolyat held something wrapped in cloth, handling it with all the care of spun glass. He looked up, meeting Thane's gaze and hesitated, glancing back at the object in his hands before holding it out to his father.

"What's this?" Thane accepted the gift, being just as careful as he began peeling back the layers of cloth.

"It was Mother's." The sudden grief in Kolyat's voice crushed Thane.

He stopped, looking back up at his son only to find Kolyat's eyes rimmed with tears. His heart ached with a pain he didn't think would ever really go away, no matter how many years he lived or how much time he got to spend with his son. Swallowing, he looked back down at the object in his hands and finished unwrapping the solid weight. He found a statuette of Arashu, her abdomen distended with pregnancy, even as she carried a child on her hip, a sword in her other hand. Carved from dark stone filled with veins of eezo, he recognized the statuette immediately—he'd given it to Irikah shortly after they became engaged. Tears welled up in his eyes, memories pushing their way forward, threatening to spill from his mouth.

Kolyat's fingers wrapped around Thane's wrist, pulling him back from the brink of losing himself to the moment. "I would like it if you take it with you when you leave again."

Thane turned the statuette over in his hands, tracing the fine lines of eezo with his fingers before swallowing again. All the talk of babies must've brought the decorative piece to the forefront of Kolyat's mind. He sat it down on the table next to him and met Kolyat's gaze. His throat raw with the need to wail his grief, he opened his arms to his son. "Thank you, Kolyat." He wrapped his arms around the boy, crushing Kolyat to his chest and kissed his son's head. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather keep it here with you?"

"I want you to have it, Father, and I think Mother would, too." Kolyat pulled back and swiped a hand beneath his eyes. "Besides, I still have other things that belonged to both of you as well. I can show you, if you wish to see."

"I'd like to, yes." Thane stood and followed as the boy led him down a hall and to a closed door.

"This is my bedroom." Kolyat opened the door and turned on the light. Stepping inside, he made his way to a low table tucked into the corner of the room and looked back at his father.

Thane lingered just inside the door for a moment, taking in the sights of all the personal effects of what he realized a boy's room  _should_ look like. Something he remembered having himself before entering the Compact, but never again since. He and Irikah—mostly Irikah—began to build such a place for Kolyat before Thane disappeared from their lives. It pleased him as much as it pained him to see his son managed to have this special place of his own in Rone and Kelena's home; something he knew he'd never be able to give Kolyat himself.

Toys stood on shelves, a computer sat on a desk next to a design tablet, and holo-images of people, Thane didn't recognize, hung on the walls—some of them dressed in costume and others holding musical instruments. The entire room smelled so strongly of Kolyat, an ever-present reminder of what Thane failed to protect; what the child lost because of him. He pulled in a deep breath and moved to Kolyat's side—almost missing the pain in his chest from his illness, it once soothed the ache in his soul, a justified punishment for his sins.

Even when he tried to settle into a normal life with Irikah, he owned very few things outside of the tools of his profession and basic necessities. He saw most of those items now, situated on the table next to far many more objects once belonging to Irikah. There sat a photo-frame, shifting between pictures of Rakhana scenery, Irikah convinced him to buy one evening while they browsed the markets and she saw it caught his attention. Hanging over the edge of the frame, Kolyat placed a diaphanous scarf his mother use to keep draped over a lamp next to her side of the bed, the light filtering through the scarf giving the room a soft blue glow.

Next to the frame sat the conch shell Thane carried back with him from the beach one day after spending the afternoon reading up on a target while Irikah and Kolyat chased one another back and forth along the shore, laughing and squealing whenever the water washed up over their feet. He saw the prayer book Irikah gave him on their second anniversary, after Kolyat tore the pages from the one he had before. The edges appeared frayed, as if it'd been read many, many times. He wondered if Kolyat sought answers for his mother's death and his father's abandonment in the words held within the sacred tome. He hoped the book brought his son some solace.

Kolyat ran his fingers over the cover of the book and glanced up at Thane. "I understand if you wish to take your things with you, they do belong to you."

"No," Thane said, resting his hand on Kolyat's shoulder, "they are yours now. You should keep them and take care of them. I'm glad you chose to share this with me, though. It pleases me to know you have mementos of happier times in our life, especially these things of your mother's." He ran his hand over Kolyat's budding crest when the boy looked up at him. "She … she loved you dearly, Kolyat. As do I, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to show you my love through my actions, but I hope you know I feel it with every breath."

Kolyat glanced back at the open bedroom door before making his way over to close it, leaving them cut off from the sounds of his aunts and uncles in the living room. "Father …" He turned to put his back to the door. "Did you … forgive me for being so forward … did you love Mother?"

The words choked him, ripping the air from Thane's lungs and leaving his head swimming. He swayed on his feet before he fought back the tide of emotion and steadied himself once more. Kolyat watched, the blue of his eyes completely hidden in the shadows, concealed by his ocular scales. It gave Thane no hint of what other thoughts or emotions the child might be struggling with or what exactly prompted that particular question. Thane took a step closer to the bed and sat down on the edge. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together.

He dropped his gaze to the floor, reminding himself to take slow, deep breaths. "I did, yes. I love her still, and always will. Although, I realize I wasn't a good husband to her, or a good father to you. I—I didn't know how to be." He glanced up at his son when he felt Kolyat sit down next to him. "I didn't spend much of my childhood with my parents, didn't really get to see what a family is supposed to look like or how to handle the inevitable difficulties that come with family life. I let my own inadequacies keep me from being the man I ought to have been."

"Mother never talked about your family." Kolyat looked at his hands for a moment before meeting his father's gaze again. "I do not understand why you did not live with your parents."

Thane wasn't entirely certain how much he should tell Kolyat, but he didn't feel he could outright lie to his son, especially not after they'd both worked so hard to reestablish trust over the last few months. "I—you've learned of the Compact, yes?"

Kolyat nodded. "I have."

"Your grandparents—my mother and father—were raised in families holding to the Compact. At six, your grandparents gave me into the service of the Compact." Thane quickly sifted through the memories springing to life and pushed them aside. "I spent the rest of my childhood learning a trade as a means of serving the hanar. I never saw my parents again; hanar and the drell of the Compact finished raising me." Silence stretched between them, and when Thane looked at Kolyat, he saw fear in his son's eyes.

Finally, the boy asked, "Will I be given to the hanar?"

"No, you needn't worry, Kolyat." Thane gave Kolyat a resolute shake of his head. "As much as serving the Compact is meant to be an honor—and indeed I believe it to be an honor—your mother never wanted it for you." He smiled when the boy's shoulders relaxed. "You will stay with family until you are old enough to decide what  _you_  wish to do with your life, and then you will be surrounded by people who love and support you as you learn how to become the man  _you_  wish to be."

Kolyat lifted his chin and smiled. "I already know what I want to do with my life, Father."

"You do?" Thane arched his brow ridge, his own smile spreading across his face.

"I want to do medical research like Mother," Kolyat said with a nod, and then something sparked in his eyes. "Maybe I will find a cure for Kepral's Syndrome."

"Perhaps you will." Thane took a deep breath and turned his body toward Kolyat, taking the boy's hands between his own. "And, perhaps, one day, you will fall in love and start a family of your own, but because of all the love your aunts and uncles have shown you, you will be a better man than your father." As he spoke the words, he knew they were filled with truth, but it felt like ripping his heart out of his own chest and throwing it to the ground to be stomped on. "This is one of many things I wish for you to learn while living with Rone and Kelena. Rone is a good man, you will do well to learn from him."

_Be like your uncle, Kolyat. Please, be like your uncle._

A knock drew both of their attention, and just as they turned to look, the door opened.

Rone filled the doorway, his gaze moving between Kolyat and Thane. "Ah, there you are. We are about to have dessert, if you care to join us."

Kolyat grinned, pulling his hands free from Thane's grasp and stood. He seemed to have already forgotten the weighted conversation as he rushed for the door. Rone stepped out of his way, brushing a hand over his shoulder as he went. Thane chuckled and pushed himself up from the bed, smoothing down his jacket. He glanced back down at the collection of tangible memories arranged neatly on the table next to the bed. Rone's soft footsteps approached, and Thane glanced at his brother-in-law.

"He spends time looking at these everyday," Rone said, nodding at the table. "More so since we first came to see you in the hospital. Having you here has been difficult, but I also think it has been good for him. However, I fear … even though he knows you will be leaving when you have finished your treatments, a part of him is not prepared to accept your absence again."

"I fear you are right, but I hope with my continued presence in his life—through vid calls and occasional visits—perhaps we'll find a comfortable … routine." Thane cleared his throat and tucked his hands behind his back. "You will have a child of your own soon."

"Indeed, though I confess I am concerned." Rone bent down to pick up a discarded shirt from Kolyat's floor and tossed it in the hamper less than half a meter away, avoiding Thane's gaze as he talked. "We have not spoken about it to many, but this is not the first time Kelena has become pregnant. We have suffered through two miscarriages over the years, but the doctors assure us everything looks perfect this time."

"My condolences. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it must've been for you both." The news made Thane feel even more terrible for leaving Kolyat and just expecting Irikah's family to take him in. How painful it must've been for Rone and Kelena to care for another's child when they'd been hoping to care for their own. "For what it's worth, I'm greatly pleased to hear her pregnancy is going so well this time. The two of you have been wonderful parents to Kolyat, but I know it can't compare to having your own. You will be a fantastic father."

Rone nodded, finally meeting Thane's gaze. "Thank you, Brother. I look forward to the full house. I believe Kolyat will take wonderfully to having a baby around, he has been excited for Aleha to give birth. He says he cannot wait to be a cousin."

Relief washed over Thane, leaving him feeling light and hopeful. He smiled, dipping his head. "He will be a great cousin."

"Indeed." Rone chuckled. "He asked if the baby can share a room with him when it's born. I suspect his enthusiasm will wane once the baby is actually here." He paused, his eyes moving with the familiar motions of a drell being tugged at by memories. After a moment he cleared his throat and said, "I recall being excited about Irikah, but when she arrived, and I realized how loud infants are and how much attention they require … how tired our mother constantly seemed for months afterwards …." He chuckled again and shook his head. "I asked my father if we might send Irikah back to Arashu."

Thane laughed and touched Rone's elbow. "And yet, you ended up being an excellent brother to her."

"Ah, I see she never told you the horror stories of our youth." Rone gripped Thane's shoulder and gave it a little shake. "Come, the others await us."

"A moment longer, if you will." Thane hesitated, unsure of how to broach the subject. "I—With a child of your own on the way, I thought I might remind you of my offer to provide financial support for Kolyat's care; it still stands. I'm more than capable of paying for whatever he needs."

The smile faded from Rone's face and he tucked his hands behind his back. "I appreciate the offer, Brother, but I must continue to decline at this time."

"I see." Thane dropped his gaze, looking at the floor between the two of them. "I don't—if you change your mind, the offer is always there."

"I suppose I should explain." Rone paused until Thane glanced up again. "I have always tried to be understanding about your profession, and truly, this is not a judgement on you as a person, but the credits you earn …."

"Ah. Of course." Thane rubbed his brow and shook his head, feeling completely foolish. He earned money by taking lives, and worse, it wasn't even sanctioned through the Compact anymore. In the eyes of all governments, Thane became a criminal the moment he started freelancing; the credits he earned illegal blood money. "I failed to consider how the particular way I earn a living might make it more difficult for you to accept … if there is any other way I can help …."

Rone nodded, patting Thane on the shoulder again. "I will let you know, and I promise if there is ever a time where it becomes truly necessary, I will not refuse your offer of credits."

"Thank you, Brother," Thane said, though it brought him little relief.


	4. Leave it Alone

**Leave it Alone**

Jasmine stretched out on the bed, her hands under her head and stared up at the rafters. She'd spent the evening wandering Enkindler's Pass while Thane went to go see his family. She had to admit, Kahje was a really pretty place. She felt bad for the drell living there, though. Their enclosed cities were amazing all on their own, but they spent so much of their time inside because of the ever present humidity on the planet. The island looked gorgeous, so much lush vegetation in so many vibrant colors. She'd even made her way to the shore and watched the hanar dancing on the waves.

Maybe Isaac really hit on something with the whole 'take in the sights' thing. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she felt so relaxed or … happy. Of course, she knew most of it simply came from  _not_ spending the rest of her life in a little white room with her bed a meter away from a toilet. That, and from being able to openly and freely be with Thane. She knew damn well her presence on Kahje meant her every action outside of her hotel room must be observed and permanently cataloged in the minds of hundreds, but none of them knew her, and every last one of them just too damn polite to make her feel unwelcome.

If she took the time to think about it, she supposed it probably said something about her psychological profile for her to feel the most comfortable on an alien planet where she was, quite possibly, the only human. But on vacation, who had time to think about psych profiles and shit? Jasmine grinned and sat up, stretching her arms out over her head. She'd managed to find a stall in the markets selling wine, so at least she knew not all drell were as straight and narrow as Thane. It still kind of amazed her that she fell in love with someone so unlike her … yet, somehow so perfect for her.

She wandered over to the counter and poured herself a glass of the sweet wine before turning to lean her hip against the sink. She took a sip and smiled, wondering how late Thane would stay at his brother-in-law's house. She'd seen him in the markets a couple of hours earlier, walking with another man, she assumed it must be Rone. Though she guessed he might've just been someone else Thane knew from Kahje. Either way, she kept her distance and headed in the opposite direction as soon as possible. The last thing she wanted was to put him in an awkward position, and she knew if he spotted her, he'd wouldn't be able to keep his eyes off of her.

He'd been looking at her with such intensity, following her every movement with his gaze non-stop since he found her the night before. She saw how hard he struggled to let her walk out of his room at the rehab center, leaving him to get ready for his dinner plans. He acted as if her presence alone proved the existence of miracles, and if he let her out of his sight, she might disappear in a puff of divine smoke. Endearing, but also a little overwhelming at times. Still, she understood where it came from; between losing Irikah the way he did, and then having Jasmine leave him for months without a word and after such a rocky start … of course he didn't want her out of sight.

A soft, melodic chime sounded through the room, and she stopped, her glass halfway to her mouth and looked around. "What the fuck?"

Sitting down her glass, she stepped away from the counter and looked around the room again, trying to locate the source of the noise. A flashing light on the door monitor caught her attention just as the sound rang through the hotel room again. She snorted, leave it to the drell to make a door buzzer actually sound pleasant and non-intrusive. Stopping by the bedside table to pick up her pistol and holster it at her back, she crossed the room to the door and hit the button on the monitor to see outside.

A woman Jasmine didn't readily recognize from the hotel's front desk stood outside, fresh linens in her arms. A moment of paranoia swept through Jasmine. Sure, the drell  _probably_ just came to change the sheets, but she  _might_ be another assassin or a spy. Assuming the disguise of a hotel attendant was the cheapest, easiest ruse for someone in her field to gain access to a target's room. Also the most overplayed. It covered half the reasons Jasmine went for short-term rentals as opposed to hotels—no pesky staff wanting to come inside to clean up and snoop around. She'd asked around a little when she first arrived on Kahje, but the drell didn't have anything like the short-term rentals she wanted in Enkindler's Pass. She sucked on her teeth and opened the door. The woman looked up and froze, blinking twice when she saw Jasmine.

Resisting the urge to quirk an eyebrow, Jasmine offered the drell a friendly smile. "Hi."

Blinking again, the woman seemed to compose herself, a soft smile spreading across her face. "My apologies, I hope I did not disturb you." She glanced around the room behind Jasmine before meeting her gaze again. "I have come to tend to your room, if you would like."

"Um," Jasmine shifted her weight away from the doorway, stepping out of the way. "Okay, yeah. Sure. Thank you."

The woman dipped her head and stepped inside. "You are quite welcome."

She headed straight for the bed, and Jasmine watched her closely as she began pulling off the sheets, bundling them together and setting them aside. Every so often the woman looked up at Jasmine as she worked, or passed back by on the way to her cart in the hall, her expression filled with wary confusion. A soft sound outside the open door drew Jasmine's attention and she grinned, catching sight of Thane walking down the hall, a bag slung over his shoulder. Her gaze shifted back to the attendant, now dusting the vidscreen and tables—which, Jasmine felt fairly sure didn't actually need dusting.

Thane stepped over the threshold, drawing her attention back to him. His gaze swept over the room, assessing the situation, she thought, before settling on her. He smiled, reaching out to run his knuckles along her jaw. "Hello, siha. I brought you something," he said, his voice low and soft as he handed her a box of asari chocolates.

"Mmmm, is this a bribe?" Smiling, she arched an eyebrow.

He smirked, putting a hand on the small of her back, and she stepped closer, leaning into his side. They both idly watched the attendant for a moment, his hand rubbing back and forth across her back. The next time she glanced Jasmine's way, surprise flitted across the other woman's features, her eyes opening wider as her mouth moved soundlessly. Jasmine wondered whether she just didn't notice Thane's entrance, or if it disturbed her to see a drell and human standing so close together.

Jasmine glanced up at him and then back at the attendant, keeping her voice pitched low when she asked, "Should I tip her?" Her brow furrowed. "Is tipping even a thing here?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "No, just thank her for her service. The concept of tipping is generally considered insulting to drell and hanar."

"Hmm." She forced her features into a stoic mask as she met his gaze and whispered, "So, I shouldn't tip you after great sex?"

He let out a strangled cough, his frills turning a darker shade of red as he arched his brow at her.

Jasmine grinned, crossing her arms over her chest, tapping the box of chocolates against her ribs. "Never gets old."

* * *

She carried her wine and a glass of water back over to the couch, handing Thane the water before sitting sideways on the cushion next to him. He'd taken off his jacket, his bare arm stretched over the back of the couch. As soon as she sat, his fingers found her shoulder, brushing whisper soft over her skin.

He took a drink from his glass and leaned forward, setting it on the table before settling back against the cushion again. "How was your evening?"

"Adventurous." Jasmine stretched her legs out over his and sipped her wine.

"Hmm." His other hand drifted to her legs, fingers wrapping around her calf. "How so?"

She took another sip, savoring the feel of the gentle kneading he'd begun on her muscle. "Well, I wandered around for awhile. Watched a few dozen drell pretend to not be watching me. Said hello to a couple of hanar, which somehow opened the door to a half hour conversation about how wonderful the Enkindlers are." She snorted when he chuckled. "Came across a market and bought some food for the hotel room." She lifted her glass a little. "And wine. Saw you there—with Rone?"

"I didn't see you." His lips twitched a little, almost a frown but not quiet. "No, I was with Drali, Kolyat's other uncle. Ah, Irikah's younger brother."

She nodded, mentally attaching the name to the face and filing it away. "I didn't want you to see me." She grinned. "I didn't want to distract you."

He smiled shifting until his back pressed against the arm of the couch, bending his leg to sit sideways, and started using both hands to massage her calves and feet. "Where did you go after the markets?"

Jasmine sat the wine glass on the table and adjusted the pillows behind her, leaning back. Tugging on the hem of her shorts to keep them from creeping up even further, she stretched out a little more and picked her glass up again. "I came back here and put stuff away, and then I decided to check out the island a little. Answered a few non-question questions about Earth and why I'm on Kahje. Pretty sure I agreed to buy a timeshare on an asteroid." She grinned when Thane laughed. "Fought for my life against giant insects and carnivorous plants."

He tilted his head back a little and laughed again, the sound deep and robust. "Jasmine, there are no giant insects or carnivorous plants on Kahje."

She snorted and took a sip of wine. "I'm telling you these things were huge, and the plants were trying to kill me." She sat her glass down again and smiled, watching his fingers work their magic for a moment before looking back up at him. "How about you? How was dinner?"

* * *

He loved that she found the temperature on Kahje worthy of such little clothing, leaving so much skin exposed for him to enjoy. Undoubtedly, her outfit drew even more attention to her, while in the city in particular. Not because his people might find what she wore offensive, but it did emphasize the differences between his species and hers, and on a planet where most locals never encountered aliens in all of their lives.

Indeed, style of dress tended to be one of the more fluid aspects of drell culture. There were those like himself who prefered to cover themselves, but others wore almost no clothing. On Rakhana, his people rarely wore more than enough to be considered decent outside of professional or mixed social settings, and on Kahje, with the influence of the hanar—who didn't grasp the point of clothes—it remained relatively optional.

"You were afraid it meant they didn't want to take care of Kolyat anymore, weren't you?" Her voice pulled him back to the moment and the discussion at hand.

"I was." He ran his fingers along the ridge of her tibia and back down over the top of her foot before sweeping it up into his hand when she twitched. He pressed his thumb into the sole, rubbing deep, small circles. "And I admit, I'm greatly relieved to have learned otherwise." He let his words linger a moment before adding, "I suppose it only emphasizes my failure as a parent."

"I don't think so." She offered him a soft smile when he met her gaze. "I think anyone in your situation would be afraid of the possibility. But what if they did say they couldn't take care of him anymore?"

He pulled in a slow, deep breath, weighing his words out in his mind, afraid of what she might think of him. "If Rone and Kelena no longer felt willing to look after Kolyat, and neither Aleha nor Drali agreed to take him into their homes … I'd do what I must. Retire from this line of work and take Kolyat to the safest place I can find in the most secluded location possible. I'd do my best to support him working whatever jobs available to me… and live in constant fear for his safety every moment I'm not by his side."

She tugged her foot free from his grip, and he glanced up at her again, dreading the look of disappointment he thought he'd find in her eyes. Instead, she put her glass on the table and sat up, dropping her feet to the floor as she turned. Leaning to the side, she curled against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, finding strength in her silent show of support.

He pressed his face to the top of her head and breathed deeply, she smelled strongly of the ocean and it stirred something inside of him, making him tighten his grip on her for fear she'd slip away. She snuggled in closer, sliding one of her arms around his waist to bury her hand between his back and the couch. Turning his head, he rested his cheek on her head and let out a soft sigh.

After a moment, he brushed loose strands of hair away from her face and said, "I don't wish to pry, and if you don't want to tell me, I understand, but I'd like to know what happened when you left Illium."

Jasmine stilled in his arms, and for a moment, he wondered if he'd crossed a line, but then she tilted her head back to meet his gaze and he knew all was well. Mischief, even if veiled in darkness, filled her eyes. "They tied me to a chair and tortured me for weeks."

He tilted his head a little and lifted his brow ridge. "I admire their skill, they didn't leave a single mark."

She grinned and settled her head back against his shoulder before letting out a weary sigh. "They took me to an undisclosed facility somewhere on Earth and kept me locked in a relatively nice cell. They took me out every few days to ask me the same, stupid questions over and over again." She tilted her head back again, her brow creased with her frown. "You might want to avoid using Saman as an alias for awhile."

He didn't say anything, only ran his fingers over her hair and the curve of her ear. She was alive and well, and there with him; the alias didn't make his list of his concerns after Illium. Her brow relaxed, and a smile replaced the downturn of her lips as she leaned into his touch before resting her head against him again.

"I don't think they wanted to let me go, or well, at least The Bitch didn't want to let me go." Pulling her hand from behind his back, she began fiddling with a buckle on his vest, not trying to open it, just scraping the metal edge over her fingertip. "She had everything she needed to set me free the entire time … Leon left a confession on his omni-tool."

"He did?" He stopped his caressing, mulling over the implications of such an action. Something about the final words Leon spoke the night he died lingered with Thane. Not the fact he told Thane to take care of Jasmine, although coming from a man who'd mistreated her, the words did disturbed him. What left Thane truly unsettled, was Leon telling Jasmine he knew she had it in her. Almost as if … he'd wanted her to kill him.

"Yeah." She pulled at his buckle. "He recorded a vid right after he knocked me out. Told them everything was his fault." She snorted, the sound filled with anger and pain; not a modicum of humor. "He even showed me in the vid, laying there," she said, lifting her fingers to the faint scar on her temple, "looking like shit with a cut on my face."

Anger swept through Thane, twitching the muscles along his neck and shoulders. He didn't know if it was because they held her for so long, seemingly without reason, or because of the audacity of her handler to not only cause her harm—someone by all rights he should've protected—but to record her while she lay unconscious and helpless. He stilled his emotions, not wanting his anger to carry through in his tone or his touch. "They didn't find this sufficient?"

"I still killed him. My handler; one of our own." She wriggled a little and lifted her shoulder, clearing her throat. "Someone leaked reports of a possible cyberattack on RetCorp—the program we used to clear Nevas' information, probably." She shushed him, reaching up to press her fingers to his lips before he gave voice to his apology, so he kissed her fingers instead. "The Bitch seemed to think it indicated some deeper conspiracy between Leon and I or something. RetCorp never confirmed the rumors, and I told her I didn't know anything about it …. Honestly? I think she just really wanted something to prove ulterior motives for killing Leon. She questioned our relationship a lot."

Jasmine sat up, the movement abrupt and jarring as she left his arms. "Okay, so here's the thing … Leon said something toward the end of the vid and before he finished, The Bitch paused it so I didn't get to hear it all." She swatted her hand through the air. "But it really,  _really_  sounded like a wind up to something big." She gestured, her hands splayed out in front of her, jerking them a little in emphasis. "Like really big. And bad. About the Alliance. Or maybe just the Phantoms." She bit her lip. "I don't know. I know I should just leave it alone. Obviously whatever it was isn't something I'm supposed to know. But …."

He tilted his head a little, blinking at her sudden agitation in speech and movements. "But?"

She screwed up her face, scrunching up her nose and pursing her lips. "I can't get it out of my mind. He said I'm only loyal to the Phantoms because of something I don't know yet. 'She doesn't know yet.' He actually used those words, right before The Bitch stopped the vid." Her gaze locked onto his, penetrating him as she seemed to be searching for something, his opinion perhaps, or validation.

All he thought about, though, was how dangerous it'd be for her if she didn't 'leave it alone'. And if his experiences with her taught him anything so far: she didn't simply leave things alone. She picked at them, dug into them, especially when they somehow managed to become personal for her. "Jasmine …."

"I know, I know." She laid back down against him, her shoulders slumping in surrender. "I need to leave it alone."

_But you won't._

* * *

_I really should leave it alone, right? But I can't. I mean, there's obviously something going on. If whatever he said wasn't true, or even just ranting bullshit, she'd have let it play. Right?_

"Siha?" His voice touched on the peripherals of her consciousness, tugging at her mind just enough to warrant a response.

"Hmm?" She brushed her fingers over the scales exposed at the top of his vest.

His hand covered hers, lifting her knuckles to his lips. "You're brooding."

She sighed, forcing the crease from her brow. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize." He kissed her hand again before settling it over his heart. "Talk to me, share your thoughts with me."

_I want to see the rest of Leon's vid._

She heard the restrained pleading in his voice, could tell her silence worried him. Hell, she'd seen the fear flash through his eyes as she talked about wanting to know what Leon said. She'd let it go, though, she would. She'd already promised herself she'd keep her head down and finish out her contract, and getting involved in whatever the hell bullshit Leon tried to drag her into  _definitely_  didn't count as keeping her head down. She just needed a distraction.

She took a deep breath and smiled, willing herself to relax. "Mmm. I've got a better idea."

"Oh?" His tone cautious but hopeful, he picked at a lock of her hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

"Mhmm." She nodded against him; not the wisest idea as the belts of his vest scraped across her cheek. "I'm on vacation. Let's finish watching  _The Hobbit_  and binge on chocolate, take my mind off of things."

Thane chuckled, the sound vibrating through his chest and tickling her ear. She looked up at him and grinned. He put a finger under her chin, tilting her head back a little further and leaned in to kiss her.

The worry eased away from the corners of his eyes. "Whatever you'd like, siha." He kissed her again, soft and chaste.

* * *

Jasmine listened to his steady breathing, trying to decide whether his lungs sounded clearer than they did on Illium or the Citadel. She didn't remember ever thinking they sounded bad, though, and with so much time lapsed …. His heart certainly sounded strong. She nuzzled against his scales and pressed her lips to his chest. He hummed, his arm wrapping tighter around her even though he slept. She figured he must be like her—like all assassins—never truly surrendering to sleep in its entirety.

It'd been a wonderful, relaxing night together. They'd watched the rest of one of her favorite movies, talked about their favorite characters—his was Gandalf,  _of course_ —and devoured the box of chocolates he'd brought her. They'd laughed and joked and things seemed really good.

_So why am I awake?_

She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, taking slow, steady breaths to try and clear her mind.

_Because I can't stop thinking about Leon and his fucking confession. I wonder if The Bitch destroyed the vid when they released me or kept it on file. Not that they'd give me access to it either way. Fuck! Go to sleep, Jasmine._

After a few more deep—yet utterly pointless—breaths, she sighed and gave up. Easing herself from Thane's arms, she paused when he grumbled in his sleep, waiting for him to settle again before crawling out of bed. She made her way to the bathroom and used the toilet, casting baleful glares at the drell version of a shower. She wanted a hot, steamy, shower. Something able to turn her skin red and chase the demons from her head. Apparently, it simply didn't exist on Kahje. Which made sense, she supposed. The drell did come from a desert planet and humidity was apparently their arch-nemesis. So why wouldn't they create a shower using dry powders and sound waves to cleanse themselves? At least they had running water in the sinks.

Jasmine sighed and washed her hands before leaving the bathroom. Seriously considering taking a sleeping pill, she sighed and pushed the thought away. She kept those for last resorts, only. She hadn't worked through her bag of magic tricks to get herself to sleep yet, so the pills would be cheating, and cheating with pills was dangerous for her.

Stopping in the middle of the room, she watched Thane for a moment. She smiled at how peaceful he looked, one hand shoved under his head, the other resting on his chest, his features completely relaxed as his eyes danced beneath closed lids. Letting out a wistful sigh, she moved further away from the bed, picking an open spot of floor near the door and began stretching.

* * *

Thane reached out, his heart skipping a beat in his chest when he found only empty space instead of her warm body next to his. "Siha?" He opened his eyes, lifting his head, gaze sweeping over the room. Breathing in a sigh of relief when he spotted her, he relaxed back against the pillow.

She didn't seem to hear him when he called out to her, so he watched her silhouette move in the darkness. The stance unfamiliar to him, still he recognized the purpose of the slow, measured movements broken by spurts of fast strikes to the air before she resumed the wave-like dance. She lifted her leg into the air, her body tilting to the side as she rotated, letting her leg drift back down, her foot planted on the floor with her knees bent in a light lunge. Twisting at the waist, her hands swept through the air, as she dipped lower to the floor.

He pushed back the sheets and sat up, lingering on the edge of the bed for a moment before standing. On silent feet, he made his way to her, realizing as he got closer to her that she'd closed her eyes as she moved. He knew the moment she became aware of his approach, a smile lifted the corners of her mouth and her stance shifted. She pivoted, opening her eyes and struck at him, the movement controlled and slow enough to be an invitation as opposed to an attempt to cause harm

He sidestepped, grabbing her wrist and using his other hand to lock her elbow in place. He knew the dark hindered her ability to track his movements as effectively as he did hers, but she seemed comfortable with the idea of sparring blind. Oh, surely she saw him, the night didn't leave her completely blinded, it wasn't pitch black in the hotel room, but dark enough to clearly give him the advantage.

She grinned, turning toward him so her trapped arm stretched across her chest and aimed a palm strike at his solar plexus, forcing him to release her elbow and step back. She rolled her wrist, reversing the hold and spun around him. He danced away from her before her kick connected fully with the back of his knee, but still her heel caught the loose fabric of his pants. Using her grip on his wrist, he turned and tugged, pulling her closer to him and hooked his ankle behind hers, jerking her off balance but she stayed on her feet, shifting her weight to the other foot and releasing his wrist.

He aimed a light jab at her ribs, fully expecting to make contact, but she struck his shoulder, shifting him just enough his punch went wide, missing his mark. She hopped back a little, putting space between them again before her fist darted out, nearly catching his jaw before he dodged. She'd gotten better, but he doubted if she'd hold up as well in a real fight with him. Then again, he couldn't imagine ever finding himself in such a position with her again.

They moved around the hotel floor, taking shots and dodging, twisting and turning around one another in the darkness. It amazed him how utterly alive she made him feel, how invigorated. Even with something as simple as sparring, she breathed life into him. Granted, it'd been many years since he'd trained with a partner, but he never missed it until that moment. He moved around her, checked her shoulder to keep her from turning, his hands moving to the base of her skull and her chin before halting the motion.

"Damn." She collapsed back against him, her shoulders rising and falling with her labored breathing.

He let his hand drift away from her head and moved it to her hip, the other trailing down her neck, fingers gliding through the light sheen of sweat just above the neckline of her tanktop, dipping low over the swell of her breasts. She reached behind her, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck and arched her back, pressing her backside against him suggestively. He moaned, desire roaring to life inside of him. Lowering his head, he scraped his teeth over the side of her throat, lapping up the salt on her skin.

Her fingers kneaded his muscles and she tilted her head to the side, humming her encouragement. He tugged at her shirt, pushing it up and sliding his hand beneath, soaking in the feel of her hot, moist skin as he splayed his fingers out over her abdomen. Sweet Arashu, he loved the way she felt against him, soft and firm in all the right places. He loved the way she tasted, like ocean and the sweetest of fruits. Dragging his hand a little higher, he cupped her breast, squeezing and lifting. He bit her neck, pinching her nipple, and she shuddered against him.

Turning in his arms, she lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it aside, pressing her bare chest against his before wrapping her arms around his neck and covering his mouth with her own. Sliding his hands down her back and over her rear, he bent his knees, gripping her thighs to lift her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

* * *

Something in him shifted, she felt it, he was being pulled away from her; drawn to somewhere else, another time and place with Irikah. She lifted her head, pulling herself up to run her tongue over his frills and nuzzled against his ear. Her voice low and throaty when she said, "Stay with me, Thane." She nipped at his jaw and whispered again, "Stay with me."

He muttered something incoherent she didn't quite make out, and he shifted his weight to one arm, using his other hand to cup the back of her head and tangle his fingers in her hair. "I'm here, siha. I'm with you." Guiding her head, he brought his mouth to hers, his tongue parting her lips with ease.

She leaned back against the pillow, satisfied his mind was exactly where she wanted it as she pulled him down with her, refusing to break the kiss. She rocked her hips, meeting his thrusts, letting herself get lost in him again.


	5. Deep Breath

**Deep Breath**

Thane watched her sleep, his head resting on his palm. Even after spending four days with her, it still amazed him to actually have her there on Kahje, with him. The steady rise and fall of her chest, sheet twining around her to leave one breast exposed, drew his gaze. With her arm stretched up, bent to wrap around her head, it pulled the skin taut over her ribs, each bone standing out in relief against the dips in between.

Dreary, weak rays of sunlight filtered through the dense clouds and then again through the shutters of the window, spilling over her, made more radiant simply by touching her. He smiled, knowing the very moment, the memory of her sleeping so peacefully next to him, would be one of many he now possessed to help carry him through the lonely nights to come. He'd cherish every minute spent with her, not just because he knew she'd have to leave him again soon, but because he failed so miserably to cherish Irikah, and he refused to make the same mistake again.

_Never._

He knew it'd wake her, but he found the urge to trace the lines of her ribs irresistible. The hitch in her breathing came the instant he made contact, a soft hum a second later. Glancing up, he found her sleepy gaze watching him, a soft smile on her face. Running a finger along the curve of another rib, from her side all the way up to where it met her sternum, he settled his palm down over the soft beating of her heart before bowing his head to kiss each visible mound.

Bringing her arm down, Jasmine splayed her fingers out over his shoulder before running them down his back. "Good morning."

"Good morning." He smiled, pressing his lips to her chest again, soaking in the flower-petal smoothness of her skin before pulling back to meet her gaze. "My apologies, I didn't mean to wake you."

She spasmed beneath his hand with a soft snort, her grin growing. "Mhmm. Liar."

Chuckling, he leaned in to kiss her, holding her lower lip between his for a moment. When he pulled back again, he raised his hand to brush the back of his fingers over her cheek. "Indeed, it was a risk willingly taken for the chance to touch you."

She pulled him back down, her lips finding his again. "I love you."

"And I you." Trailing his fingers back up her cheek, Thane tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "What would you like to do today?"

"Mmm, I don't know." She scrunched up her nose, and he grinned, joyful at her being able to be so relaxed, carefree and playful with him. "Let's start with breakfast and go from there."

* * *

Jasmine laughed before taking a sip of her juice and setting the glass back down. "You seriously waited for him to get undressed before taking the shot? Did you find him attractive?"

"No, not exactly." Clearing his throat, he shifted in his seat. "I was fourteen then, undergoing puberty. My body, changing rapidly and I—there was a curiosity … a desire to ..."

She lifted an eyebrow, amused as much as his sudden, apparent discomfort confused her. "... to compare yourself to him?"

"Indeed." His tone held a level of uncertainty, and his brow twitched. "I'm told it's normal."

_Oh. He really doesn't know. Christ, why would he? He didn't have an actual childhood, didn't grow up in a setting that'd be conducive to those sorts of conversations with others his age or adults._

Nodding, she offered him a soft smile when he met her gaze. "It's normal."

One corner of his mouth lifted up before he turned his attention back to his plate, cutting into an egg with his fork. "What about you? Did you compare yourself to someone as well?"

"Sure." She nodded again, picking at her own eggs, idly curious as to what creature they came from. "At first my mom, and then later some of the older girls in the foster system."

He stilled, his gaze returning to hers. "Your mother, of course, my apologies." He blinked, inner eyelids sliding over his eyes first, followed by the outer pair a second later. "I hope I haven't made you uncomfortable, siha."

Shrugging, she finished chewing her bite of food and took a sip from her glass to wash it down. "You didn't, don't worry about it." It'd taken years, but she'd reached a point in her life where talking about her mother—so long as it didn't pertain to her suicide—didn't send fresh waves of grief to batter her soul.

She offered him a reassuring smile before letting her gaze sweep over the restaurant, the itchy feeling of being watched setting her on edge. It'd been a near constant companion since she stepped foot on Kahje, but this felt more … intense. Her gaze snagged on a familiar face, dark eyes locked onto hers before shifting back and forth between her and Thane, curiosity tugging at his features. She let her gaze linger only a second before moving on, her mind scrambling to place the sand-colored drell.

_Drali. Shit._

Clearing her throat, she turned her attention back to Thane. "Ah, there might be a problem."

He stilled again, holding her gaze, and she knew he prepared himself to spring into action if required. "What's wrong?"

She forced a smile on her face, despite the queasy feeling in her stomach. "If I'm not mistaken, the man watching us at my left, by the counter, is Drali."

Thane's lips parted, but he didn't say anything, glancing down at his plate before looking over at the drell in question. She let her gaze flit toward the drell, too. The man smiled, lifting a brow ridge, and Jasmine knew she was right, though she wished she'd been wrong.

"I can leave," she said, looking back at Thane and keeping her voice low. "We can meet back up later. You can just tell him I'm someone you know from work or something."

Turning back to her, his shoulders relaxed and he reached over, taking her hand. "No, this is a good thing." His nod seemed more for his benefit than hers, but he squeezed her fingers.

She raised her eyebrows, glancing between Thane and Drali, the other man lingering at the counter. "You sure?"

"I am." He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. "Do you mind?"

She smiled, pushing aside the butterflies nesting in her stomach, and shook her head. "I don't mind."

_Oh, Jesus Christ, this is big._

Thane smiled at her when she tightened her grip on his hand. Glancing back at Drali, he gestured at the other drell, waving him over. He smiled, all teeth, as he dipped his head and made a beeline for their table. Despite her reassurances, Jasmine let go of Thane's hand as his brother-in-law made his way closer, tucking both of her hands in her lap. She smiled at Thane, hoping to lessen any sting her retreat may have caused. It just felt too intimate of a gesture in front of his dead wife's brother. If it bothered him, he didn't let her see.

Thane stood to greet Drali when he arrived at the table. "Hello, Brother, it's good to see you again. Please, won't you join us?" He motioned to the empty chair across from her.

"I'd be delighted," Drali said before turning his gaze to Jasmine. "That is if your friend doesn't mind?"

She smiled and waved her hand at the chair. "Not at all."

* * *

Thane leaned back in his chair, his heart filled with joy as he watched the woman he loved laugh and joke with a man he'd always consider family. For his part, Drali's charisma and open acceptance of Thane's relationship with Jasmine worked wonders to put her at ease. When Thane turned his palm out to her in offer once more, she showed no hesitation sliding her hand into his.

"You're from Earth?" Drali asked, his gaze locked on Jasmine as he leaned his forearms against the edge of the table.

She nodded. "I am. You ever been there?"

"I have, actually." He smiled, head bobbing in a quick nod. "In twenty-one seventy-four, but I only stayed there for two weeks Earth time."

Jasmine cocked an eyebrow, her smile steady on her face. "Oh yeah? Where were you?"

"A place called Las Vegas in the United North American States." Tilting his head a little to the side, Drali studied her. "Have you been?"

Her fingers twitched in Thane's hand, drawing his attention firmly back to her. She blinked, and he saw the shift in her expression—subtle enough he doubted it'd mean anything to Drali—but to Thane's trained eye, it spoke volumes. It told him she'd begun crafting her expressions, only letting show what she wanted to be seen, the same as she did with him when they first met.

_Something about the place Las Vegas struck a chord with her. Perhaps she'll tell me about it later._

The corners of her mouth turned down, and she shook her head. "No, can't say I have, but it's a pretty well-known city. Famous, even."

She lied; he felt almost certain, which probably meant she'd been there for work. He brushed his thumb back and forth across her knuckles, and she gently squeezed his hand.

"It's the last desert I visited. Ah, the warm sun and dry air." Drali grinned, his easy smile lighting up his face. "Beautiful. The month you call July? I'm told the temperatures are the highest in Las Vegas then."

Her jaw clenched, an ever so faint movement, and she nodded. "Yeah. Vegas is a pretty big place. Lots of people, lots of casinos." Her voice remained light and level. "Did you know someone there, or were you just sight-seeing? Losing all of your credits?"

_They were there at the same time. She's searching for something in specific. Interesting … and perhaps alarming. Nonsense. She'd no more harm my family than I would hers._

"Oh, I traveled there with a friend, Nathaniel. He wanted to visit family, so we spent most of our time away from the bright lights." Drali laughed before taking a sip from his water glass. "I can't say they seemed very pleased he brought an alien home with him, but I did have the opportunity to visit some of the open desert area," he said with a grin, "away from the noise of civilization."

Jasmine smirked, her thumb idly running over Thane's fingers, seeming to relax a little. "Hmm, I'd have taken you for a 'people person.'"

"Oh, I am." Drali raised his brow ridges. "I love people. It's just nice to get away sometimes, too." He speared a piece of  _hannalene_ , lifting it to his mouth before asking, "What about you, Jasmine? Are you a 'people person'?"

She laughed, the sound genuine to Thane's ears, bringing a smile to his face. Glancing at him, she raised her eyebrows. "What do you think? Am I a 'people person'?"

Thane chuckled, lifting her hand to kiss her knuckles. "I believe you are."

Her smile grew, one corner of her mouth raising higher than the other. "Yeah?"

"Indeed," he said and dipped his head.

"So, Brother," Drali said, drawing Thane's attention back to him, "tell me how you were lucky enough to win this beautiful woman's heart?"

She snorted, and Thane glanced at her. Gaze flicking to Drali before returning to him, her eyebrow twitched up as she waited to see what he'd say.

Smile widening, he chuckled and kissed the back of her hand again. "I'm not sure I know myself."

Drali made a very human-sounding, whiney 'aww' noise—reminding Thane momentarily of Rift—as he glanced back and forth between the two of them. "Don't be coy, tell me how you met!"

Thane pondered it a moment, observing Jasmine as she dropped her gaze back to her plate, leaving him to decide what he should tell the man on his own. He supposed he should tell Drali  _something_ about how they met, even if he couldn't tell his brother the absolute truth. He had no reason to believe Drali knew what he did for a living; even if Irikah did confide in Rone, Drali lived offworld and was unlikely a source of emotional support for his sister as was Rone.

He took a sip from his cup, savoring the tartness of the  _elocol_  before clearing his throat. "We met while working on the Citadel. I'm afraid she didn't care for me much at first; I managed to offend her, unintentionally, of course."

Jasmine huffed, just a soft breath of air and returned her gaze to him, mischief dancing in her eyes. "I still think it was intentional."

"Oh?" Drali lifted a skeptical brow ridge. "What did he say?"

She snorted. "He told me I'm bad at my job."

"Thane said this to you?" Drali's brow ridge hiked up even higher in apparent disbelief. "This man, right here?" He gestured at Thane, and when Jasmine nodded in confirmation, he turned his gaze to Thane. Drali shook his head. "I don't think I've ever heard you say anything less than polite."

"Those weren't my exact words," Thane said in his defense, realizing his exact words wouldn't sound any better.

Apparently, Drali wasn't willing to let it go quite so easily. "Well, then what  _did_ you say?"

Thane chuckled and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, the point is I didn't really intend to offend her, but I did, and she held it against me for some time. Eventually, however, I succeeded in convincing her that I felt truly remorseful for upsetting her, and we became friends. From there …." He trailed off, waving his free hand.

* * *

_Leon drops to his knees, shock clear in his eyes as blood spreads across his shirt, soaking through the white fabric like crimson roses blooming in spring._

You goddamned sonofabitch, why did you do this?

_He flings out his arms, trying to catch himself as he collapses on the balcony. She keeps moving, pushing aside the tremor in her hands, pulling in a slow, deep breath to fight back the lingering woozy feeling from being hit in the head. The bastard_ pistol-whipped  _her. She feels Thane's gaze on her, tracking her, and she hears the desperate, frightened sounds from Nevas, but she continues to stare at Leon as she edges around the couch. She can't look at Thane, can't let herself feel anything else right now. She has a job to do; she needs to finish this—needs to kill Leon._

Treacherous, psychotic asshole.

_She takes another step, and then another; watching as Leon coughs and shoves himself over to his back, his gaze locking onto hers as she approaches. Thane edges his way into her peripheral vision, his movements cautious, as if he's afraid he'll set her off. She doesn't stop, though, her boots crunching over broken glass, grinding it into the floor as she reaches the balcony door._

_Leon holds her gaze, a hundred emotions dancing over his eyes. Eyes she once longed to see more than any others. Eyes that use to look at her with lust and something she thought was love, making her feel beautiful, empowered, and oh so eager to please him. They settle on pride. Now, in the last moments of his life, he_ finally  _looks at her with pride. She levels her gun, aiming right for the center of his forehead. Coughing, blood sprays from his mouth, coating his teeth in a sickly, washed out red._

_He smiles at her. Smiles! "Knew you had it in you, love."_

You sonofabitch. I hate you. I fucking hate you.

_His gaze shifts to Thane. "Take care of her."_

_Take care of her. The audacity._

" _Go to hell." She squeezes the trigger, and the bullet rips through Leon, making his head bounce on the balcony floor, the spark of life draining from his blue eyes._

Jasmine's eyes snapped open, the now familiar shapes of her hotel room casting shadows in the darkness of night. She sucked in a sharp breath of dry, warm air. Thane stirred next to her, and she turned her head to look at him, heart pounding in her chest. If not for the reflection of moonlight off the dark layer of his eyes, she wouldn't know he was awake and watching her.

"You were talking in your sleep," he said, voice soft with sympathy. He lifted a hand to her face, his finger skimming over the faint scar on her temple. "I wasn't sure whether or not I should wake you."

Rolling over to face him, she closed her eyes and scooted closer. Burying her face against his chest, she breathed him in, letting his scent fill her lungs and chase away the lingering images of Leon's dead eyes. He shifted, wrapping his arms around her, a hand cradling the back of her head.

After long minutes of silence, nothing but the sounds of their breathing stirring the air, Jasmine licked her lips and whispered, "I need to know what the rest of his vid said. I can't just let it go. I  _can't_."

He kissed the top of her head, his fingers running over her hair. "I know, siha. I'll help however I can."

* * *

Jasmine chewed on her thumbnail, staring at the glow of the laptop's desktop. She really didn't know where to even start. Theodus might be able to help, but as she'd already told Thane, she didn't want to risk putting his contacts on the Alliance's hitlist by involving them in something likely requiring them to hack into the Alliance's secured systems. And, so far, Theodus was the only one of Thane's contacts she'd dealt with personally. The fewer sources traceable to her, the better.

"Perhaps we start with something smaller?" Thane suggested, tugging her hand away from her mouth to hold between both of his. "Gather more information on Leon and his family—perhaps any part of his service record that might be available to the public? It might give you some clue, a lead to follow."

_Why are you doing this with me? Don't you know how stupid I'm being for even_ thinking  _about pursuing this?_

She sighed. "I shouldn't be involving you in this, either."

"Siha," he said with a chuckle, leaning in to kiss her, "I'm involving myself. I understand the risks, and I'm far more concerned by what will happen to you should things go badly than what will happen to me."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm worried about what will happen to you."

_I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you because of me … something you should understand._

He traced the line of her jaw, the smile from a moment before fading, his tone turning serious. "Jasmine, these are the risks I take on a daily basis, particularly since becoming a freelancer. I've taken these risks for strangers, allow me to take them for someone I love."

Huffing, she leaned against his side, pulling the laptop a little closer and accessed the extranet.

* * *

He hated seeing her so frustrated, but unfortunately he didn't really know what else to do to help her if she remained unwilling to make use of his contacts. His hacking skills were minimal, enough to get him through most locked doors and corrupt security systems, but nothing on the scale she needed if she wished to retrieve information from the Alliance servers—let alone do it without getting caught. He wasn't even sure Theodus would be up to such a task; it seemed more along the lines of the type of work he'd go to Avalina with. Theodus was better equipped for gathering information and making things disappear from civilian, corporate, and local police servers—not military.

She leaned forward, setting the laptop on the table and sighed, pulling her hair free from the elastic band before running her fingers through the thick strands. "I'm not finding anything useful."

"Why don't we take a break? I'll make us something to eat." He pushed her hair behind her ear before rubbing the back of her head, hoping to soothe her before her mood worsened.

Turning to look at him she took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah," she said, but then she leaned into him, pressing her lips to his, keeping him there on the couch. Pulling her legs up, she turned and crawled on top of his lap, a knee on either side of him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He slid his hands around her waist, pulling her in closer as she deepened the kiss, her tongue tasted of  _cinuela_  as it slipped past his lips. After a moment, her mouth disappeared, and she rested her forehead against his. Opening his eyes, he reached up and brushed her hair aside, running his thumb over her cheekbone.

She smiled, lifting her head to meet his gaze. "Thank you for trying to help."

"Of course, siha. I love you." Truly as simple as that; he loved her, and he'd do anything within his power to help her.

"I love you, too." Pushing back, she set her feet on the floor and stood up, leaving him longing for her warmth and wanting to pull her back again. "Maybe I should call Theodus. Have him just stick to what's easy for him to access, low risk stuff."

Thane stood, pulling his jacket off to drape over the back of a chair. "I think it'd be wise. Theodus isn't likely to extend himself beyond what he can achieve without putting himself in danger." He made his way to the small kitchen area, much smaller than even his room in the rehabilitation center, and washed his hands before opening the compact refrigeration unit.

She followed him, leaning against the counter. "You sure?"

"I am." He glanced at her before turning his attention back to the refrigerator and chuckled. "There's barely anything in here." He looked back at her, raising a brow ridge.

She scrunched up her face. "Order in?"

Laughing, he closed the door on the refrigerator. "I suppose we'll have to."

He moved to reclaim his jacket, but Jasmine snatched it before he reached the chair. Grinning at him, she slid her own arms inside, pulling at the lapels. She held her arms out to the sides and spun slowly. He tilted his head to the side, watching her, finding it oddly gratifying to see her wearing his clothing—even if the jacket dwarfed her, nearly swallowing her completely.

"What do you think? Does it suit me?" She bit her lip before shoving her hands in the pockets. Her brow twitched and she pulled one of her hands back out, the elastic band of hers he kept pinched between her thumb and forefinger. Gaze shifting from the stretched out band to him, she raised an eyebrow. "Stealing my stuff, Krios?"

Chuckling, he made his way over. Sliding his hand beneath the leather of the jacket, he wrapped his fingers around her hip and pull her closer before tugging on the jacket with his other hand. "I believe it is you who has stolen my belongings." Plucking the elastic band from her fingers, he rolled it down onto his wrist. "You left this on Illium; claiming abandoned property is hardly theft."

She smiled, her gaze softening as she lifted her arms to dangle over his shoulders. "Mmm. Keep it, I have others."

He grinned, having had no intention of returning his keepsake, and kissed her. "What would you like me to order?"

"Hmm. I don't know. Surprise me." She kissed him again before stepping back, making her way back to the couch as she eased his jacket off and held it out to him.

Accepting it from her, he pushed his arms back through the leather and opened his omni-tool, pulling up the menu for  _The Rising Tide Cafe_. Jasmine sat back down, dragging the laptop forward and placed a call, a moment later Theodus face appeared on the screen, smiling when he saw her. Thane dipped his head to Theodus when the other drell caught sight of him, but then he turned his attention to ordering lunch.

"Why am I not surprised to see you two together again?" Theodus asked, his tone light and teasing. "What can I do for you, Jasmine?"

Thane stuck with things he'd seen her eat before, though the selections on Kahje were limited compared to either the Citadel or Illium, and placed the order. Closing his omni-tool, he moved to the couch, leaving what would be seen as an appropriate amount of space between himself and Jasmine. He wanted the choice to be hers on whether or not they confirmed Theodus' obvious suspicions. He'd thrown Drali at her already, and although she'd relaxed after a few moments, her unease didn't go unnoticed.

She rubbed her palms over her knees, her attention fully on the vid call. "I'm trying to find information on my former handler, something that might provide me with a lead I can follow, and I'm not finding much on my own."

Theodus leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him. "I take it this isn't … an approved investigation?"

"No." She took a deep breath, letting it out slow. "I'll tell you what I can, but you can't ask too many questions."

He seemed to contemplate this for a moment before nodding. "Very well."

"And you need to be careful," she said, scraping her teeth over her lip, "for your own sake as much as mine."

Theodus lifted a brow ridge, his lips quirking in a smile. "Interesting, indeed." He leaned forward again, hands poised over the keyboard. "What can you tell me?"

"His legal name is—was Leon Harding," she began, pulling up the list of notes she'd taken during her own research. "Birth-name Leon Solomon. His father: the diplomat Jasser Solomon. From what I've found, his mother's name was Anna Solomon—both parents are now deceased. They had one other child, a female named Astrid Solomon. She's still alive and lives on New Canton."

She stopped talking long enough to take a drink of  _cinuela_ , setting the cup back down on the table before turning her attention back to her notes. "His father married once before to a woman named Jessica, her last name before the marriage was White. She kept his last name when they divorced, but I don't believe they had any children together. Leon's date of birth was January fifteenth of twenty-one fifty, born on Earth in the European Union. He joined the Alliance at eighteen, but uh," she said before pausing, pulling her hair back up, securing it with her elastic band, "his service record is sealed completely. Known aliases are Adam Stone, Staff Lieutenant Crane, Robert Wells, Elijah Tucker, Major Greg Lance, and Daniel Lee."

She turned to Thane. "Am I forgetting anything?"

Clearing his throat, he shifted on the couch leaning a little closer to the laptop and to her. "Jasser Solomon was shot in a failed assassination attempt, it is believed, in retaliation for his efforts to obtain financial and legal support for colonists suffering under the terms of a contract made with RetCorp, he later died from complications associated with the sustained injury. This movement against Jasser is what lead Leon to retaliate against those believed to be responsible at RetCorp." Much of it they'd already discussed in lesser detail when Jasmine hired Theodus to gather evidence to take to the Alliance. Still, Thane thought the new pieces of information, as well as the reminder, might aid Theodus in his search.

Theodus' fingers moved furiously over the keys in front of him, recording everything they'd said so far. After a moment, he stopped typing and glanced back up at Jasmine, his gaze drifting back and forth between her and Thane. "May I ask what it is you're hoping I'll find?"

She blew out a heavy breath, her cheeks puffing out with the force. "He left a confessional vid, taking responsibility for everything that happened on Illium. They only allowed me to see a part of the vid, but something he said just before they turned it off implied he knew something … something that if  _I_  learned about, would make me question my loyalties. I'm hoping to find out what exactly this thing is, but I don't expect you to uncover anything so specific. Just maybe something that can steer me in the right direction."

"Was this vid sent to someone?" His hands moved back to the keyboard, poised and ready. "I might be able to trace it."

"Not to my knowledge. His omni-tool was keyed to his vitals—his specific biometrics—when he died, it would've shut down and required a code input from his superiors to access anything on it. As far as I know, that's when they discovered the vid." She cleared her throat and lifted a shoulder. "I imagine he would've sent it to his superiors after he finished everything he intended to do on Illium, if he'd lived."

"Who shared the vid with you?" Theodus raised a brow ridge. "Perhaps I can access their accounts."

"I can't tell you," she said, shaking her head, "and I think it'd be really unwise for you to try."

He sucked in a deep breath and smiled. "Alright, I'll see what I can find."

"Thanks." Her shoulders relaxed, and she glanced at Thane before turning her attention back to the screen. "Send me your bill and call me when you have something. If I don't answer your call, and I don't call you back within a day, give Thane whatever you have. I should be reachable for a couple more weeks at least, though."

Theodus' brow ridges both shot up, his eyes widening, gaze shifting to Thane. "You allow her to use your first name? I don't even get to use your first name."

Smirking, she glanced at Thane and winked before turning back to the screen to shrug. "Maybe he just thinks I'm prettier than you."

Thane chuckled, smiling at her but directing his answer to Theodus. "Indeed, I do, and you've never asked. If it helps, however, she didn't allow me to call her 'Jasmine' when we first met, but it's how she introduced herself to you."

Theodus grinned, leaning a little closer to the camera. "Maybe she just thinks I'm prettier than you."

Tilting her head back, she laughed, her entire body shaking with her mirth. He loved those moments. Once finding her ability to so fully enjoy herself enviable, now having had the opportunity to share in such moments with her, the sound of her laughter allowed him to take his first deep, painless breaths since Irikah died. Soaking in the sight of her, hair swaying back and forth along her shoulder blades, he fought back the urge to touch her, just to remind himself she was real and  _his_.


	6. Questions and Answers

****

_**Image of Thane drawn by[squiggly_squid](http://archiveofourown.org/users/squiggly_squid/pseuds/squiggly_squid) for my birthday!** _

 

**Questions and Answers**

Jasmine opened her omni-tool and accepted the incoming call, smirking when Theodus' face popped up on her screen. "Hey, pretty."

He chuckled, turning back and forth in his chair. "Careful, now, Jasmine. I might start to think Krios isn't enough to hold your attention."

She snorted, cocking an eyebrow. "You have something for me?"

"You're not denying it?" He leaned forward, his forearms pressing into the table. "You and Krios are a thing?"

_Totally a thing._

"Why are you so interested in my personal life?" She turned, resting her back on the arm of the couch and throwing her legs up on the cushions. "I'm pretty sure Thane doesn't answer questions about his personal life when he hires you."

_And I'm damn sure I'm not going to answer any personal questions about him, either. If he wants you to know something about him—about us—he'll tell you himself._

"No." He tilted his head to the side as if mulling over her words. "He doesn't answer much of anything. Everything I know about him I've learned on my own … and if it were possible, I'd do my best to forget it all." His lips twitched in a smile. "I suppose I shouldn't be too eager to learn much about you, either."

She chuckled, smile lingering. "Probably not. So, what'd you find?"

"I'll send you a full report, but the most interesting—well," Theodus said, waving a snow-white hand, "I think it's interesting—isn't about Leon, but about his father."

"The suspense is killing me," Jasmine said, deadpan.

A sly smirk lifted the corner of his mouth and he laughed. "Oh, you are so much more fun. Okay, Jasser Solomon was a busy man. Really interested in making the galaxy a better place for humankind." The drell leaned back in his chair again, hands steepled, forefingers tapping against each other. "Challenged a lot of powerful people and organizations, RetCorp by no means the worst."

A chill swept over Jasmine, like a winter wind, crawling inside of her and taking root bone-deep. "Are you saying … there's a chance RetCorp isn't responsible for the hit on Jasser?"

He folded his hands on the table in front of him. "Indeed, I am."

_Jesus fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Shit. Fuck._

Jasmine's stomach rolled, and for one terrifying moment, she thought Theodus might get to witness her emptying her stomach all over the hotel's furniture. She knew he probably saw it written all over her face, but at the moment, she just didn't give a damn. All those people dead. She straightened, turning to sit right on the couch, her feet planted solidly on the floor, grounding her. It was bad enough so many died, even worse when she learned it wasn't a sanctioned job … but to think she might've taken part in a massacre when the victims weren't even responsible for the attack on Leon's father ….

She pinched the bridge of her nose before massaging her forehead. "Just—just send me the report. I'm sorry, I have to go. Thanks, Theodus."

He nodded, blessedly refraining from asking the million questions she saw in his blood-red eyes. She needed to get out of the hotel. The walls closed in on her, sucking the air right out of her lungs. Closing her omni-tool, she scrambled off the couch and crossed the room to grab her shoes, sitting down next to the door to slip them on.

Thane stayed the night at the rehab center—he thought if he continued to spend all of his time away, he might lose his room, so he started spending the nights there when he had treatments the next morning. He wanted her to sleep there with him, but she thought spending a little time apart was a good thing for any relationship. Where the hell did she get that idea? It wasn't like they wouldn't end up going long stretches apart after her vacation ended. Just then, all she wanted was him.

* * *

Thane spent the afternoon with his son and Rone. They'd surprised him, showing up at the rehabilitation center as he neared the end of his treatment. Kolyat learned how to cook a new dish at his friend's house, and he wanted to make lunch for his father. So, they went to the markets together to shop for the ingredients. Thane needed to restock the cabinets and refrigeration unit in his room, anyway.

As they each carried bags laden with groceries back to his room, Thane found himself wishing he could prolong his treatments and Jasmine's vacation. Spending time on Kahje with both Kolyat and Jasmine so near by—being able to see them both in a single day—a part of him didn't want it to ever end. Oh, he knew he'd grow restless eventually, and inevitably he'd need to return to work—of course Jasmine had her own responsibilities to tend to—but at the moment, life seemed very nearly perfect. It wouldn't be safe, though. It'd never be safe.

_Even now, my presence on Kahje threatens Kolyat, and I must never allow myself to forget this simple truth._

He unlocked the door and hit the door's release just as one of the bags Kolyat carried clutched to his chest slipped, turning sideways before falling to the ground. Thane bent down to pick up the bag and its contents, setting his own bags down next to him. Rone helped him, scooping up runaway fruit and vegetables.

"Father," Kolyat said, the alarm in his voice bringing biotic flames to lick at Thane's fingers, "there is an alien in your room."

Thane turned his head just as Rone gasped.

_Jasmine!_

Thane's heart slammed against his chest as he straightened. His siha stood in the middle of his studio room, her eyes wide with shock. She wasn't meant to be there, they'd agreed to meet in the evening—she said it was good for them to spend some time apart; claiming 'absence makes the heart grow fonder or something like that.' The first night apart, he'd feared it meant she'd grown tired of him, but when he saw her the next day, the way she'd rushed into his arms, her mouth crushing his, it chased away his doubts.

He gently cleared his throat, letting his gaze shift to his son. Kolyat's eyes held curiosity, but also a touch of fear as he looked up, glancing between Thane and his uncle. Rone laid his arm over Kolyat's shoulder and chest, pulling the boy back toward him.

Thane glanced at Rone, fear definitely winning over in the other drell's eyes. He rested a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder before turning his gaze back to his son. "She is a human, Kolyat … and she is very dear to me."

"I know what she is, Father." Kolyat turned his head, the movement slow and strained, as if he needed to forcibly drag his gaze away from the woman standing in the middle of the room. "I have seen pictures of humans, but what is she doing here?"

"Kolyat." Rone slid his hand up to rest on his nephew's shoulder, glancing between Thane and Jasmine. "Do not be rude, your father has said she is a friend of his."

Her fingers twitched toward her wrist, making him think she might activate her tactical cloak and flee, but instead she rubbed her arm. "I, uh …." She glanced around the room, gaze starting to drift toward the vent above her before snapping back to Thane. Pursing her lips, she took a breath and held out an empty, placating hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize … I can come back later." Her gaze lingered for a moment on the three of them, blocking the only socially acceptable exit, and she scraped her teeth over her lip before forcing her face into a placid mask.

"No!" The urgency in his own voice startled Thane, and if Rone's sudden jerk, as well as Kolyat's head whipping around were any indication, he'd startled them, too. He composed himself, reining in his racing thoughts. He wanted them to meet. Perhaps it wasn't quite the way he'd imagined, but he did want Jasmine to know his son. They only had a couple of weeks remaining before she'd leave Kahje, and he might not have another chance after. "My apologies. Rone, Kolyat, will you give us a moment, please?"

Rone dipped his head. Despite his chastising words to Kolyat to be polite, he failed to be subtle himself, shielding Kolyat, staying between the boy and Jasmine as he moved into the room past Thane. "Come, Kolyat, we will put the groceries away for your father."

Kolyat allowed his uncle to lead him, bags in hand, but not without complaint. "Uncle, I want to meet the alien."

"Hush, Kolyat." Rone's chiding, exasperated tone brought a chuckle from Thane.

The open layout of the small dwelling didn't give them much in the way of privacy, but with the others in the kitchen area, at least he might have a few quiet words with her. He didn't waste any time crossing the floor to stand in front of her, hands behind his back, braced more than resting, when he caught her scent—familiar hints of grapefruit and papaya mixed with the underlying tones of  _her_. Oh how he wanted to touch her, pull her against his chest and breathe her in, taste her mouth, and tangle her hair in his fingers. It hadn't even been an entire day since last he saw her, but he'd missed her, and he knew a time would come when he'd long to see her, but she'd be so far beyond his reach he'd have nothing but memories to keep him company.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, shoving her hands in her shorts' pockets when he drew near. "I'm such an idiot, I should've known you might not be alone." Something in her voice and the downcast of her eyes tore at him; she seemed deeply upset and fighting to conceal her emotions. At first, he assumed her antsy demeanor a product of the surprise from his arrival with Kolyat and Rone, but standing next to her, he almost tasted the sharp tang of tension rolling off of her. Something happened in his absence, he felt certain.

Keeping his voice low and leaning a little closer, he asked with forced calm, "Siha, what's wrong?"

She smiled, but it rang hollow. "Nothing that can't wait." Shrugging, she took a deep breath. "Come see me later, we'll talk about it then. I'll get out of here and let you enjoy your time with your family."

"Stay," he said, not wanting her to go, especially when something clearly bothered her. "Have lunch with us." He smiled as her eyes widened. "Please, siha, don't leave. I want you to meet my son." He never imagined he'd speak those words to anyone, ever again, but saying them to her felt so natural. The moment they left his mouth, a true calm settled over him, bringing with it a sense of rightness. He loved her, and he trusted her—completely.

Her eyebrows crawled up her face, her lips forcing themselves into a silent 'oh'. She studied him for a moment before shifting her gaze toward the kitchen and then back again. "That, uh, that sounds potentially disastrous. I mean, Drali is one thing, but this …."

Glancing over his shoulder to where Kolyat watched the two of them, he smiled at his son before turning back to Jasmine. "I … don't think he's ready to hear I've fallen in love again … but surely I'm allowed to have a friend?"

The corner of her mouth turned up, the familiar glint in her eyes telling him whatever worries brought here there had been pushed aside for the time being, mischief taking its place. "Am I being demoted already?" She scraped her teeth over her lower lip. "Damn, I had so many new things I still wanted to explore with you."

Heat rushed to his frills and he coughed, clearing his throat, drawing a pleased hum from her. "No, siha, I assure you, you've most certainly  _not_ been demoted."

* * *

Jasmine glanced up at him when he put his hand on the small of her back, guiding her over to the kitchen area; thoughts of Jasser Solomon a million light years away.

 _Look at him, he looks so happy. I'm sure this won't be_ too  _awkward._

She plastered a smile on her face and turned her gaze to Rone and Kolyat when Thane cleared his throat, drawing their attention to her. The man eyed her, wariness pouring off of him in thick waves, before offering her a cautious smile and resting his hand on his nephew's shoulder. Kolyat looked at her, his blue eyes catching the light and showing her unabashed awe—probably much the same way she looked at the first alien she'd ever met, an asari named Julna. She didn't know, of course, but she thought with the way Kolyat responded to her that she was the first, and if not the first, one of very few aliens he'd ever encountered outside of the hanar. The kid was tall—taller than Mouse even though they were about the same age—and she thought given another few months, she'd probably have to look up to meet his gaze. Still, he possessed a look that said he remained very much a child, despite what he'd been through. Mouse didn't really have much of the same … softness, innocence left to him. She wondered if she did at their age.

"Rone, Kolyat, I'd like you to meet Jasmine. She's a dear friend of mine and has helped me through some very difficult times." His hand vanished from her back as he turned a little, looking at her when he spoke again. "Without her, I fear I wouldn't have the courage to be here today."

_Yep, not awkward at all. Christ, Thane, don't put me on a pedestal._

Jasmine snorted softly and shook her head. "He's giving me too much credit. It's nice to meet you both." She held her hand out to Rone, but he only stared at it in confusion.

Thane chuckled. "My apologies, most drell aren't accustomed to shaking hands."

"Oh." She dropped her hand to her side, absently rubbing her thigh instead. "Right, of course. I actually knew that but … human habit, I suppose. Sorry."

_Not at all awkward. Christ, what is wrong with me? Put me in a room full of people and tell me to work the crowd, I'm fine. Point me at someone and tell me to flirt my way into their apartment so I can shoot them in the head, I'm fine. Introduce me to my boyfriend's kid and I'm a rambling idiot. Maybe I can just tell him I don't feel well and leave._

"No, I am afraid it is I who should apologize." Rone dipped his head at her. "I am not as educated in the customs of other species as I should be, please, allow me to learn." He extended his hand to her.

She smiled, taking his hand in hers and giving it three, brief shakes before letting him go again. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rone."

"As it is to meet you, Jasmine." He returned her smile, dipping his head again.

Kolyat squared his shoulders and held his hand out to her. "Hello, Jasmine. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

_Well, aren't you proper?_

Her eyebrow twitched, the corners of her mouth lifting with amusement. "It's good to meet you, too, Kolyat." She took his hand and smiled when he mimicked her actions from a moment before, precise fingers closing around her hand before shaking her hand with careful, measured movements three times and letting go.

Thane hummed, radiating with pride and joy. "I've invited Jasmine to join us for lunch."

"If it's okay with the two of you?" The words rushed from her, wanting to make it clear the choice belonged to them, even as a part of her hoped they'd send her away.

Rone blinked a couple of times, and glanced down at Kolyat, but then nodded. "Of course, please join us."

"Thank you." She smiled, and then when the moment of silence began to stretch into awkwardness, she turned to Thane and asked, "So, is there anything I can help with?"

"I am cooking for us," Kolyat said, drawing her attention back to him. "You may help me if you wish."

"Oh." Jasmine's eyebrows twitched, but she covered her surprise with another bright smile, flashing her teeth at the boy. "I'd love to. What do you want me to do?"

* * *

Thane and Rone retreated to the table, having been chased away by an excited Kolyat. Thane didn't bother trying to hide his delight, his smile becoming a permanent fixture on his face; Kolyat took to Jasmine so easily, just as the drala'fa did. She had a way with children, and they brought out something wonderful in her, too.

"I would be interested to learn how you know this human, Brother." Rone spoke in hushed tones, his gaze barely straying from watching Jasmine's every move to glance at Thane.

Thane's smile faltered, understanding the cautious tone in his brother's voice all too well. "I trust her, Rone. You needn't worry. He's in safe hands with Jasmine, I assure you." Propping his elbows on the table when Rone's gaze shifted back to the woman and the child, busy chopping vegetables, he clasped his hands together and watched them, too. "I met her nearly a year ago on the Citadel while working. We spent time together, came to know one another … to care for one another." He continued to watch the two most important people in his life, smile growing once more as something Kolyat said made Jasmine laugh, the child looking up at her in wide-eyed wonder. Thane felt Rone's gaze return to him, heavy and scrutinizing. "I was ready to die before I met her … she saved my life in many ways."

Rone took a breath, a precursor to speech, but then hesitated. After a moment, his words finally came, sounding concise, carefully constructed. "I think there is much you are not saying."

"Indeed." Tapping his knuckles against his lips, he debated what to tell Rone, fearing Jasmine's 'potentially disastrous' outcomes brewed on the horizon like an oncoming storm.

They both fell silent for awhile, watching Kolyat and Jasmine cook. With his last, simple statement, Rone asked so much in so few words. His unspoken questions—their relationship—begged honesty and full disclosure, but how much should Thane really tell him? What could he really say, especially with Kolyat and Jasmine so close, easily within hearing range should either Thane or Rone forget for even a moment to keep their voices low and their words veiled? Surely, no one expected for him to tell Rone—Irikah's most trusted, conservative confidant and the man raising his son—that Jasmine was also an assassin, and not only had he fallen in love with her, but taken her into his bed many times … hoped to do so many times more. That he desired—even though he didn't dare tell her yet—to spend the rest of his life with her.

"She appears comfortable around children," Rone said, his voice speculative, lacking any indication of offense from Thane's continued silence.

"Indeed." Thane sighed, shoulders relaxing, thankful Rone decided to give him a moment of reprieve. "There is a young boy—a drala'fa—I knew on the Citadel whom she helped find a home with people she knows on Earth. They adopted him. I watched her interact with him on several occasions, it's quite clear she came to care about him deeply, as he did for her. It pains her that she is unable to do the same for all the other homeless children on the Citadel."

Rone hummed his approval, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "She must have a kind heart."

Thane chuckled, 'a kind heart', though accurate, seemed inadequate in describing Jasmine, but perhaps he was biased. "Most certainly."

"There are not many reasons for aliens to come to Kahje; most business is conducted offworld." And with that, Rone declared the expiration of Thane's reprieve; time for him to provide answers.

"She is here for me." Thane spared a glance at his brother. "She knew I came here for treatments. She will be leaving in a couple of weeks. I … I wasn't sure if it'd be wise to introduce her to my family, but it seems the decision wasn't mine to make. She met Drali a few days ago, he saw us dining together and joined us for breakfast, and I didn't anticipate she'd be here today."

"I see." Rone didn't sound at all certain of the information Thane gave him. "Drali did not mention meeting her."

Thane glanced at Rone once more before locking his gaze on Jasmine, taking in a slow, deep breath to steel his nerves. "I believe he meant to give me time to figure out how to approach the subject with you myself." He hesitated again, the words right there on the tip of his tongue. "Jasmine is—we are … more than friends."

The silence stretched for long minutes, but Thane didn't dare to look at Rone's face, afraid to see betrayal or disgust in his brother's eyes. Perhaps Drali had been wrong, perhaps Rone wouldn't be willing to accept the news. He took a steadying breath and then, barely above a whisper, he said, "I love her. I didn't think I'd ever love another after Irikah died, but Jasmine has taken my tattered soul and pieced it back together again. I hope you can understand."

"I understand, Thane. I do not begrudge you for finding love again." Rone tilted his head to the side when Thane turned to look at him, lowering his gaze. "I only wonder if she understands who it is that loves her."

_Ah. Of course._

"She knows what I do for a living, understands the risks." Thane turned his attention back to the two in the kitchen—Kolyat now instructing Jasmine on how to crack the shells of the  _ka'tira_ to scoop out the tender meat inside. "She knows what happened to Irikah, and why I left Kolyat in your care."

"Will you tell him?" Rone asked, the weight of the conversation leading him away from etiquette.

Thane dipped his head. "I'd like to … in time."

"I think it is good you have chosen to wait." The relief in Rone's voice, so light and airy, filled the space between them. "Allow him the chance to fully adjust to having his father return to his life."

"Indeed." Thane understood it might be difficult for Kolyat to accept if he knew the truth of his father's 'friend', but it wasn't something Thane intended to keep from him forever. It'd be unfair to both Kolyat and Jasmine.

Her voice trailed over while they watched her work on a  _ka'tira_. "I think one of these tried to pinch my toes on the beach."

The carapace, slick with water from being boiled, slipped beneath the pressure of the tool she used to crack the shell, nearly shooting off the platter, if not for her quick reflexes. Thane chuckled, and she looked over her shoulder at him, grinning before turning her attention back to Kolyat and the  _ka'tira_.

"Are your toes unwebbed like your fingers?" Kolyat asked loud enough for Thane to hear, Rone must've heard him as well, but he let the indiscretion slide, giving Kolyat the illusion of privacy the two and a half meters of space afforded him, allowing him to have his moment of care-free curiosity.

She took the question in stride, simply nodding her head. "They sure are."

"You said you met her while working, and she knows what you do …" Rone paused, as if fitting the pieces of a puzzle together inside his head. "I wonder what it is she does for a living that your paths would cross."

Thane lowered his gaze to the table in front of him, shaking his head. "It is not for me to say, my apologies."

"I do not believe I need you to." Rone sighed, something both regretful and unsurprised in the sound. "I hope you are not mistaken for putting your trust in her."

"It is not a thing I did lightly, I assure you. She has  _earned_ my trust, and she has given me hers, as well as her heart." Thane met Rone's gaze, willing the other man to not look away. "She's a siha— _my siha_ —and I believe she'd die herself before allowing harm to come to any child."

"I see." Rone nodded, the movement decisive and final. "I am happy for you, Brother."

* * *

"Did you know my mother, as well?" Kolyat asked Jasmine, looking up at her from his plate.

"Kolyat." Rone used the same tone all parents, universally, seemed to know and use with their children to tell them they were behaving scandalously.

She fought back a smile as the boy mumbled an apology and turned his gaze to his plate. Drell culture—at least those who lived on Kahje—might view asking questions as rude, but there didn't seem to be anything disgraceful about choosing to answer them. She considered it to be a valid question, one she'd expect from a curious boy. "No, I didn't know your mother. I've only known your father for a little while."

"Thane has told me you have recently made the acquaintance of my brother," Rone said, drawing Jasmine's attention and holding her gaze for a heartbeat before glancing away again.

"I did, yes." She smiled and picked up her glass of  _hannalene_  juice. "Drali is quite charming."

Thane chuckled. "That he is."

"Aunt Aleha said Uncle Drali is a child in a man's body." Kolyat kept his gaze on her, as he had most of the time she'd been there, studying her every movement, analyzing her every word.

Jasmine laughed, a short snort of mirth before she reined herself in. Rone choked on mashed  _naka_ , taking a sip of his  _hannalene_ juice to clear his throat. He covered his mouth with his napkin, but not before Jasmine caught the faintest hint of a suppressed smile. Kolyat grinned at her, seeming proud of himself for eliciting such a reaction. She winked at him before turning her attention to Thane. He smiled at her, his love for her written so clearly on his face for just a second before shifting to amusement as he glanced at his son.

"Yes, well," Rone said, having collected himself, "it was impolite of Aleha to say so, and perhaps it is not something we should repeat to others, Kolyat."

"Yes, Uncle." Kolyat schooled his smile. "My apologies."

Thane gestured at his son, a prideful smile spreading across his face. "Kolyat has decided to follow in his mother's footsteps, he wishes to be a medical researcher."

"That's a noble profession." Jasmine nodded, letting her eyebrows raise. At thirteen, all she wanted was to be eighteen so she didn't have to worry about the police finding her and taking her to another shitty orphanage. "I'm sure you'll help a lot of people. Is there something specific you want to learn about?" At least no one scolded her for asking questions.

"I want to find a cure for Kepral's Syndrome." Determination hardened his words as Kolyat's gaze strayed toward his father and back again.

Jasmine smiled, heart warming a little more toward the boy. "Wonderful! You'll have to work very hard in school."

His shoulders slumped a little and he glanced down at his plate. "My marks have not been adequate for secondary, but I am trying to improve."

Smile fading at the sudden lack of confidence in the boy's tone, her lips pursed as she struggled to find the right thing to say. "On Earth, children your age still have several years of school left ahead of them before they go on to university. I don't know if it's the same on Kahje, but …."

"Children attend primary until the age of sixteen. If they are so inclined, and their marks are adequate, they may attend secondary and from there, choose a speciality," Rone offered, studying her with curious scrutiny. "The last two years of primary are the most influential."

Glancing between him and Kolyat, Jasmine's eyebrows arched in question. "It sounds like you still have time enough to get your marks where they need to be." She glanced back at Rone, and he dipped his head to her in confirmation, offering her a soft smile. "So," she said, turning her attention back to Kolyat, "I see no reason why you can't, you seem plenty smart enough, and you have a supportive family to help you get there."

"Thank you, Jasmine," Kolyat said, but it carried the monotone of habit and not gratitude. "It is kind of you to say."

She frowned, choosing her words carefully. "Well, I didn't say it to be kind. I said it because I think it's the truth, Kolyat."

* * *

Thane left Jasmine sitting at the table, sipping  _cinuela_ , while he walked Rone and Kolyat to the door. It pleased him, more than he had words to express, to see his son enjoyed her company enough to request she join them again the next time Thane and Kolyat visited. Jasmine seemed more than happy with the prospect, though she swiftly amended her agreement, suggesting it should be cleared with Rone and Thane, first. Rone agreed after only a moment's hesitation, and of course, nothing made Thane happier.

Kolyat glanced back over his shoulder, and Thane followed his gaze to where Jasmine sat. She smiled warmly at the boy and waved goodbye. He grinned, bowing to her before following his uncle out of the door.

Thane put his hand on Kolyat's shoulder, bending to kiss his forehead. "Thank you, my son. The meal you prepared was quite delicious. I look forward to seeing you again, after school, in two days."

Kolyat's brow ridges drew in and down. "I want to see you tomorrow, Father."

"Your uncle has said you have promised your friend, Quinlo, you'd spend time with him after school tomorrow." Thane squeezed his shoulder before letting go, the disappointment in Kolyat's face making his chest ache. "It's important you not neglect your education or your friends while I am here, Kolyat."

Sighing, Kolyat's lips twitched toward a frown but he nodded. "Yes, Father."

Thane turned his attention to Rone, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder as well. "Thank you, Brother."

Rone dipped his head before sliding his arm around Kolyat. "Good evening, Brother." He glanced down at his nephew. "Come, Kolyat, your aunt is waiting for us."

Thane watched them walk away until they disappeared around a corner, then he closed and locked the door. Tucking his hands behind his back, he turned and watched Jasmine for a moment. She held his gaze, a soft smile on her lips as she brought her steaming cup to her mouth. He smiled, his heart so filled with love, he doubted there was any way someone such as himself ever truly deserved what the gods saw fit to give him.

Taking his time, he crossed the floor to stand in front of her, gaze never leaving hers. She sat the cup down on the table, reaching out for his hand. He took her fingers in his and tugged, urging her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he kissed her, lips brushing softly over hers.

Cupping her face, he rested his forehead against hers and whispered, "You are the most wonderful gift I could've ever hoped for, and so much more. I love you, Jasmine, my beautiful siha." He kissed her again before she opened her mouth to respond, trailing his tongue over her lips, twining with hers when she opened her mouth to him. He hummed, feeling the very blood in his veins heat at her touch. Breaking the kiss, he met her gaze. "I want to make love to you," he said, slipping a hand beneath her shirt to skate his fingertips over her bare skin, taking pleasure in the trail of bumps he left in his wake, "but first … I want you to tell me what brought you here today. What upset you, siha?"

She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush, her shoulders slumping. "Theodus called." Pausing, lips parted without speech, she tilted her head to the side, gaze drifting away from his.

"Oh?" he said, hoping to encourage her to go on.

"It seems like there's a chance whoever sent an assassin after Leon's father may not have been involved with RetCorp." She licked her lips and swallowed, her haunted gaze returning to his. "Apparently, Jasser had many powerful enemies."

If he knew anything about Jasmine, and he liked to think he did, the possibility troubled her because in her mind it made the attack Leon orchestrated against the RetCorp targets even more reprehensible than learning the contracts were unsanctioned. Frowning, he traced the curve of her jaw. "This isn't a certainty?"

"No. Not yet, at least. He's compiling his reports. I asked him to find me leads—I don't know if this will get me any closer to uncovering the scandal Leon mentioned, but I intend to find out if this is true either way." She closed her eyes, her muscles beneath his fingers tightening with restrained tension. "I owe it to him to find out the truth about his father's death. It's stupid, I know, to think I owe that asshole anything … but I just do."

"It's not stupid … I admit it saddens me to know you feel beholden to someone who's caused you so much pain and grief, but it's not stupid." He brushed his thumb over her jaw again, encouraging her to open her eyes and meet his gaze. "You have a history with him, he was your lover, once, and your handler. Both relationships engender a deep trust and loyalty, even after the trust has been broken and the relationships ended." He kissed her forehead. "However I am capable, I will help you. We  _will_  find out the truth, both about Leon's father and whatever else he had to say with his confession."

She leaned into him, tucking her head beneath his chin. "Thank you."

"Of course," he said, wrapping his arms around her ribs, rubbing his hand over her back, feeling her relax beneath his touch.

A moment later, she pulled back and met his gaze with a smile. "Kolyat is a great kid."

Thane grinned, a light, joyful chuckle escaping him. "Indeed, he is, and I think he's quite taken with you."

She smirked and lifted a shoulder. "He just thinks it's cool I'm an alien."


	7. Domestic

**Domestic**

Thane nuzzled against her neck, planting kisses along her jaw and just below her ear, savoring the silken feel of her skin against his scales and the smell of their mingled scents. An idea taking root, he lifted his head and grinned at her. "Turn your translator off."

"What?" Jasmine laughed, arching an eyebrow, eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because." He leaned down to kiss her, nipping at her lip and pulling a half-moan half-gasp from her. "You like my voice; I want you to hear me—unfiltered by the translator."

Her brow furrowed, but her smile remained. "I won't know what you're saying."

"You will." He sat up, opening his own omni-tool. "I'll turn mine off, too."

Narrowing her eyes, she pursed her lips, making him want to forego the suggestion in favor of tracing every line and curve of her pout with his tongue instead. "You speak Earth English?"

"I do," he said, dipping his head, turning off his translator and closing the screen.

"Of course you do." She rolled her eyes and huffed, lifting her arm to open her omni-tool. "Hell, you probably speak it better than I do."

"Indeed." He flashed a playful grin at her, watching her face through the orange glow of her omni-tool.

She snorted, slapping his shoulder before closing her omni-tool. Looking a little skeptical and unusually shy, she licked her lips. "Alright, it's off."

A slow smile spread across his face, and he reached out, brushing stray strands of hair away from her eyes. "You are more beautiful each time I look at you."

Her face lit up with fascination, the spark of desire dancing in the edges of her eyes, waiting for him to feed it more kindling and stoke it into roaring flames. "A man of many talents. But now I'm torn." She smiled, trapping her lower lip between her teeth.

He loved seeing that look in her eyes, it filled him with awe and humbled him, every time leaving him wondering how exactly she'd managed to capture him so completely—how he'd managed to do the same to her. He didn't think he'd ever grow tired of seeing the evidence of her desire for him in her eyes and the flush of her skin, inhaling her shifting scents as her body responded to his touch. He truly meant it when he said her beauty continued to grow every time he looked at her.

"Why is that, siha?" He tugged at her lip until she released it, not because he disapproved of the action, quite the opposite in fact. It only made it impossible for him to not want to touch the reddened, delicate flesh when her teeth brought his attention to her mouth once more. He stroked his thumb over her lip, entranced with the way it shifted at his slightest touch.

"Because, you can't talk and kiss me at the same time." She reached up, trailing her fingers along the frill of his jaw. "No one's  _that_  talented."

Thane chuckled and stretched out on the bed next to her, elbow holding him up as he propped his head in his palm. Putting a finger beneath her chin, he tugged, encouraging her to tilt her head back a little. "I can try." He brought his mouth to hers, trapping her lower lip between his for a second before letting go. Brushing his lips over hers, he said, "I love you, Jasmine."

"I love you, too." The soft breath of her devotion swept over him, as gentle as a caress, yet stronger than gale force winds with the flurry of emotions it stirred inside of him—hope but also trepidation, love and a sense of belonging he'd never really felt before. She brought her hand back to his face, fingertips skirting the frills of his cheek and jaw as her tongue darted out, the very tip tasting his lips, moist and enticing.

He opened his mouth to her, and she lifted her head from the pillow, claiming his lips completely. Sliding his hand through her hair, he cradled the back of her head, tongue twining with hers. She moaned, a soft, throaty vibration he felt more than heard, and he closed his fist around the hair at the base of her skull. She rewarded him by pushing against his shoulder, urging him to his back, her weight pressing down against his chest as she slid a leg over his waist to straddle him. A moment later, she tore her mouth away from his, and he lifted his head, following her, trying to recapture her lips and tongue.

She grinned, brushing her lips across his, nipping at him. "Talk to me." Using her face to nudge his head to the side, she began trailing her tongue over the frills along his jaw and down his neck.

The heat of her, separated from him only by the thin fabric of his loose-fitting, cloth pants and her even thinner panties, and the feel of her mouth at his throat wrapped his mind in a thick fog, pulling a low moan from him and forcing him to fight against his base instincts in order to find the will to respond. Closing his eyes, he took a slow breath, willing his pulse to slow its rapid thrumming against the walls of his veins.

"I've been trying to pinpoint the exact moment my heart became yours. Not—" The words caught in his throat as her teeth scraped across his frills. He sucked in a ragged breath and continued, "Not when I realized I had feelings for you, but when they first started."

She hummed, wordlessly encouraging him to continue as she wriggled against him in the most interesting way, working her way down a little lower to tuck her head beneath his chin, tongue and teeth tasting his suprasternal notch. He chuckled at how difficult she made it for him to concentrate and threaded his fingers back through her hair, his other hand drifting down the side of her ribs before trailing over her waist to settle on her hip. She rocked against him, and his thoughts scattered from his mind, leaving only the desire to feel more of her. She nudged his chin with the top of her head, and he licked his lips, searching for his voice once more.

"I think … I think it started when you put yourself in harm's way to bargain for Rift's sake. I didn't admit it to myself then because—" He hesitated, changing his direction of thought. It really wasn't an appropriate time to tell her something she'd done reminded him of Irikah. He found it a little difficult to remember his thoughts from just a moment before—a rather peculiar experience for a drell—as her lips trailed over his shoulder, moving down to his chest. "I think the actual moment my heart belonged to you was when I tried to help you up after you'd been injured fighting my battle. You pushed me away and asked about the hanar."

She shifted, her back arching to reach a little lower, her tongue trailing over the curve of his pectoral before her teeth followed, hair sweeping over him as she moved. "Why then?" Her words muffled against his scales. Resting her weight on her palms, she moved one leg, using it to spread his thighs and pressed her knee into the bed between them.

"Your strength and determination, even when so wounded, your selflessness in the moment." He watched her, the ache for her growing inside of him as she eased her way down his body, kissing along the expanse of his stomach. "I suppose it impressed me … inspired me."

"Mmmm." She slipped her fingers into the waistband of his pants and tugged, working them down until he lifted his hips from the mattress to make it easier for her. "And when did you realize you had feelings for me?"

"I first started to realize I felt … something for you the night we met Ares." He licked his lips, his throat and mouth drying as she exposed him completely, tossing his pants aside. "I felt such intense concern while watching you drink so heavily. I feared for your safety in Ares' presence, and yet it brought me great pleasure to see you so relaxed and enjoying yourself. These things … couldn't be so easily explained away."

She ran her hands up his thighs, leaving a scorching trail of need in her wake. "And when did you put a name to those feelings?" Shifting, she knelt between his legs, fingers and gaze sweeping over him, as if exploring every newly exposed scale and curve for the first time.

When she looked up to meet his gaze, it was through hooded eyes, her pupils dilated just enough beyond mere arousal to tell him that his venom started to affect her. She seemed calm, though, and composed as she gestured at the bottle of supplements and half-empty glass of water, left on the nightstand from the evening before. Perhaps she'd begun building a tolerance. Thane handed her the bottle without comment, holding the glass until she reached for it.

Once she swallowed the pills, she repeated her question. "When did you put a name to those feelings?"

"Ah. The day you came to my apartment to ask for my help in removing a thread from ' _Assassins Unveiled'_. After I ended the call with Theodus, I felt disappointed I had so much time still before I'd see you again, and …." He trailed off, finding the words drifting away from his mind as she lowered her face to him, her tongue sweeping over the heat-sensitive pads of his groin where his scales began to shift, becoming smaller and smoother, spiking his want for her to nearly unbearable levels.

She stopped, glancing up at him and arched a brow. "And?"

He swallowed, trying to work up saliva. When he spoke, his voice crackled more than usual. "And I finally admitted to myself that I knew exactly what I felt for you, I'd felt it before. I told myself by denying it, I did a disservice to the both of us."

A slow smile lifted the corners of her lips, and she wrapped a hand around his girth, stealing his breath from him, making his heart stutter in his chest. Holding his gaze, she licked her lips before leaning in, her tongue leaving her mouth once more to make contact with him, trailing hot and wet from base to tip. He sucked in a sharp breath, and reached for her, the will to fight his instincts disappearing in a flood of desire. He wanted her, needed to be inside of her, but she stopped him with a hand flat on his stomach and pushed him back down.

"Keep talking," she said before taking him into her mouth.

Slick heat surrounded him, sliding up and down around him, muscles tightened as he fought the urge to thrust himself deeper into her mouth. Still, she understood what his body wanted, her hand tightening around the base of his shaft, head dipping lower, taking in as much of him as she could. "Oh, oh sweet Arashu." The second his words left him, he realized he'd slipped back to his native tongue. "Ah," he said, his mind scrambling to find the will to speak, and not only that, but in her language.

* * *

Jasmine left the bathroom, the dull ache in her inner thighs bringing a smile to her face. Thane remained on the bed, sprawled out and eyes closed, his breathing steady and shallow. She wasn't sure if he'd fallen back asleep or not, but she wasn't going to risk disturbing him either way, he looked so completely at peace. Picking up his shirt from the floor, she slid it on over her head and rolled up the sleeves before padding to his kitchen on bare feet.

Being as quiet as possible, she filled a pot with water and set it to boil. She'd watched him make  _cinuela_ often enough she figured she'd manage on her own. She opened his refrigerator and pulled out the bowl holding brown and white speckled eggs, some of the fruit he'd called  _hannalene_ , and a wedge of some sort of cheese—though she tried  _really_  hard not to wonder where the hell they got milk for cheese on Kahje. Maybe it came imported. She hoped it was imported. She didn't recall seeing any mammals to speak of on her trek through the rainforest, and she doubted if there were, there'd be anything bigger than a nutria.

Settling four eggs into the bottom of another pot, she filled it with water and set it on another burner, turning the heat on beneath it before going in search of a cutting board and a knife. She set to work dicing fruit and slicing cheese, arranging it on plates and singing quietly to herself. When the water for the tea began to boil, she laid the knife down on the cutting board and opened a cabinet, measuring out the tea leaves as she'd seen him do a couple dozen times and added them to the water.

As she pushed up on the tips of her toes to take down the teapot, strong, yet gentle, arms wrapped around her waist, pulling a startled gasp from her. Thane's warm chuckle filled her ear, his face nuzzled against her neck.

She laughed at herself, leaning back against him as she set the teapot on the counter. "I thought I'd make us some breakfast, you know, since you actually keep food in your kitchen like a responsible adult."

He kissed the side of her neck and took a deep breath. "Do you need any help?"

She puckered her lips, shifting them to the side. "Mmm. You can finish cutting stuff over there."

Reminding her very much of a contented cat, he rubbed his frilled jaw and neck against her before his arms slipped away. "Very well."

She glanced over her shoulder at him, his back facing her as he picked up the knife and continued where she left off. She grinned, the word 'domestic' floating around in the back of her head. Turning her attention back to the stove, she killed the heat under the tea just as the water for the eggs started to boil.

* * *

She'd just finished her breakfast when her omni-tool pinged. Opening the holographic screen, she accepted the call from Theodus, both hopeful he might have something solid for her, but also dreading the dent in her mood. She'd been having such a nice morning. "Hey," she said, stealing a sip of her  _cinuela_ —not quite as good as if Thane made it instead.

Theodus' lips moved, but she didn't understand a single thing coming out of his mouth, the sounds fluctuating between guttural and sussurant hissing; utterly foreign to her ears, if not for having just heard the same sounds from Thane.

She frowned, eyebrows twitching before she realized the problem. "Oh, shit. Give me just a second. I don't have my translator on."

He laughed, but dipped his head to her, waiting for her to reactivate her translator. Smiling at her when she returned her gaze to his, he asked, "Why would you turn off your translator?"

She shrugged, schooling her expression even though heat crept up her neck and spread out over her cheeks. "I had my reasons."

Thane hummed, drawing her attention, and flashed a satisfied grin at her from his side of the table, lifting his own cup to his mouth. She wondered what her heat signatures told him in that moment, and found herself insanely grateful Theodus wouldn't see anything more than a faint blush without being physically present. She turned her attention back to the drell on her screen and caught his scrutinizing gaze sweeping over her.

He raised a brow ridge. "That shirt is a man's shirt, of drell design, and it's several sizes too big for you. I don't believe that's your shirt you're wearing."

_At least he didn't point out I'm not wearing a bra beneath._

"I don't believe I asked you for fashion advice." She smirked, taking another sip of her tea, her gaze flicking to Thane when he hummed again.

_Hmmm. He likes me wearing his shirt._

Chuckling, Theodus leaned back in his chair, a knowing smile lingering on his face. "Fair enough. I found something, I think it might be the thing you're looking for."

Jasmine shifted forward, the smile slipping from her face, senses sharpening with the intensity of her focus on his blood-red gaze. "What'd you find?"

"A series of email correspondences between Leon and his father as well as some between Jassar and an Alliance admiral." His smile widened; the look of a man who knew he was damn good and worth every credit he charged. "I'm flagging them and putting them at the top of your report. You should receive it in a few minutes."

The adrenaline of excitement hit her system, making her jittery and antsy, ready to burst into action but lacking an actual target. "Thanks, Theodus. Maybe I should send you a bonus?" She grinned, flashing her teeth at him. "But then again, I wouldn't want to insult you."

"Maybe just answer a question for me instead?" He raised a brow ridge, his smile turning sly and predatory.

She almost heard the springs of the trap he'd set, about to snap closed around her. "That depends on the question."

His wolfish grin didn't hold as much of a bite as she'd feared. There weren't any pressing questions about the Alliance, or even Leon and his father. He didn't ask her anything more about RetCorp, or her time spent locked away because of the disaster. Instead, he simply asked, "Which one of you made the bed when you got up this morning?"

She laughed, the question surprising her more than it should, yet still relaxing the muscles along her spine in relief. Glancing at Thane, she caught the slight raise of his brow and the soft smile on his face, asking her if she intended to answer the man. She leaned forward, propping her chin up on the palm of her hand, her fingers curled against her cheek.

"Who says the bed's made?" she asked, giving her head a little shake and drawing in her eyebrows. When Theodus tilted his head to the side, as if he were trying to figure out if her response told him what he really wanted to know or not, Jasmine snorted and added, "He did."

Theodus beamed at her, sitting up straight, hands moving back to the keyboard in front of him. "I'm finishing your report now. Let me know if you need anything else."

She scoffed at his abrupt shift back to business, but gave him a light chuckle and a nod. "I will, thanks again."

"Anytime." He cut the call, leaving blackness staring back at her before it shifted to the main screen, and she closed the omni-tool.

Thane set down his cup and speared one of the few remaining pieces of fruit on his plate. "He sounded certain he'd found something of use." He pulled the fruit off his fork with his teeth, a thoughtful look tugging at his brow as he chewed.

"Let's hope he's right." She stood, carrying her plate to the sink, finding she needed to be moving while she waited for the report to come through. She intended to change into her own clothes, and then do the dishes once Thane finished his breakfast. On her way back by him, he snagged onto the hem of her shirt and used it to tug her back to him. She grinned down at him, wrapping her arm around the back of his neck when he turned in his chair and pulled her down to his lap.

Sliding a hand along her thigh, he worked his way up her leg, beneath the shirt, and over her hip. "It pleases me to see you wear this, it's … intimate and gratifying."

* * *

Jasmine slumped against the cushions, letting her head loll to rest on the back of the couch and closed her eyes. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she let out a heavy sigh. "Do you know anything about Cerberus?"

"Nothing more than what these messages tell you. I've heard the name in whispered conversations and backroom politics," Thane said, waving his hand when she glanced at him, "but nothing solid about who exactly they are or what they do, only that they're a secretive group interested in the advancement of humanity."

She turned her attention to the ceiling, her gaze creeping along the grooves of the ceiling panels as she sorted through the information in her mind, pulling it all apart, examining the details, and then piecing it back together again. The messages were vague, using veiled terms and ambiguous codenames. The only thing clear was Cerberus worked on some project Jasser seemed strongly opposed to, and Leon warned him someone called the Illusive Man was too dangerous of a person for Jasser to go up against. Jasser reached out to the Alliance, hoping to find backing against Cerberus, but they warned him away as well.

"Whoever or whatever they are, Leon warned his father to stay away from them, but that was over a year before Jasser got shot." Leaning forward, she propped her elbows on her knees, letting one hand dangle between her legs while the other rubbed at the tension in her temple and forehead.

"Yet the correspondences with Admiral Holstead continued for months after Jasser assured his son he wouldn't pursue his investigations into Cerberus." He kept his voice soft and distant, as if loathe to intrude upon her musings, just another whisper of her consciousness.

She let his observation linger in the air between them for a moment, mulling it over and letting his words play devil's advocate with her thoughts. "Cerberus might be responsible for Jasser's death … or the thing Leon hinted at, Admiral Holstead sure seemed intent on covering for them."

He made a sound as if about to speak but hesitated a moment. "Perhaps both."

Gaze snapping back to him, Jasmine sucked in a deep breath, letting it seep out of her like a deflating balloon. "Could be." With her nerves already on edge, her fingers twitched toward her pistol when the musical chime of the door buzzer rang through the air. She closed her omni-tool and glanced at Thane, lifting an eyebrow. "Expecting someone?"

He stood, smoothing down his jacket. "No, but I've had quite a few unexpected guests since arriving on Kahje." Walking over to the door, he stopped to activate the security feed, and Drali's face appeared on the screen. "Ah."

She smiled at the image of the drell and stood when Thane unlocked the door, ready to say hello and then excuse herself so she didn't intrude on family time. She'd done quite enough of that already. Besides, her brooding over the shit with Leon was probably taking a toll on Thane's spirits, even if he was far too polite to tell her so.

The door slid open, revealing Drali—wearing a very human button-down shirt beneath his leather jacket, left untucked, hanging loose over his leather pants—with his hands hidden away behind his back, and as soon as he saw her, his face lit up. "Jasmine! You're here, how wonderful."

Thane chuckled and gestured for him to enter. "Brother, this is a pleasant surprise."

Drali shrugged and stepped inside, removing one hand from his back to grasp Thane's shoulder in greeting. "I didn't have anything else to do today, and after listening to Kolyat talk for hours last night about the 'fascinating human' he'd met at his father's place … well, I thought I might come see how the two of you are getting along." He pulled his other hand out from behind his back, revealing a bouquet of fresh-picked, tropical flowers filled with vibrant blues, reds, yellows, purples, and oranges. "I brought something for Jasmine," he said, flashing a grin at her. "I recall human women like flowers."

She chuckled, making her way over to the two drell and leaned against Thane, draping one of her arms over his shoulder. She eyed the flowers, taking note of the jagged, torn stems and overabundance of leaves still attached. Drops of dew spread out over the petals, and she spotted the same occasional splash of water on Drali's jacket. "You braved the humidity to go outside and pick these yourself, didn't you?" She lifted an eyebrow, accepting the flowers from him.

He shrugged and waved a hand, brushing aside her concerns. "It isn't so bad today, and I wasn't out there long." Moving past them to the table, apparently completely confident he'd be welcomed to sit, he said, "There's no place to buy flowers in the city. As it is, I received countless odd looks carrying these around with me."

Jasmine laughed again and brought the flowers to her nose to inhale, trying to keep a straight face under his scrutiny when she found one of them carried a rather repugnant scent, smelling more like a corpse right on the verge of decay than anything floral. At least she couldn't detect the odor without her face shoved in the flowers. She cleared her throat and smiled. "They're beautiful, thank you."

Raising a brow ridge, a smirk lifted the corners of his mouth. "If I'd known you intended to sniff them, I'd have chosen more wisely."

Thane rested his hand on the small of her back, drawing her attention to him, and pointed at one of the darker flowers—deep reds shifting into a royal purple. "This one, called 'dwindling day', smells sweet when it first blooms, but as the petals change color, they begin to emit a foul odor. By the time they've changed completely … the smell is rather unpleasant." His finger moved, touching the petal of a yellow and orange flower. "I believe you'll find this one, 'Arashu's blessing', appealing. The leaves from this plant are one of those used to make  _cinuela_."

She lowered her face to the flower, hesitantly breathing in the scent and smiled. "Nutmeg." Glancing up at Thane, who watched her with a level of intensity only he could muster, she added, "It smells a little like a spice humans call nutmeg."

"Indeed." He smiled, reaching for the bundle of flowers. "If you like, I can find something to put these in for you."

Letting him take the bouquet, she nodded. "Thank you."

She watched him as he took the flowers to the sink, setting them down on the counter before filling up a water glass from the faucet. When she glanced back at Drali, she found the man watching Thane with a soft smile on his face. His gaze shifted to her, and his smile widened as he gestured to one of the empty chairs at the table.

_Guess I'll be staying._

"So, what did Kolyat have to say about the 'fascinating human?'" Jasmine asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as she sank down into the chair across from Drali.

"He said your hand felt very strange, and you told him your toes have no webbing just like your fingers." He leaned back in his chair, draping one long leg over the other. "He heard you say a 'bad word' while you were helping him cook, but he didn't want you to be embarrassed, so he pretended not to notice."

"What? No, I didn't—oh shit, yes I did." She covered her mouth and scrunched up her nose. "Sorry." She glanced at Thane, wondering if he'd be disappointed in her, but she saw the corners of his mouth lifted in a smirk as he worked to prune away some of the excess leaves on the flowers.

Drali tilted his head back and laughed. "I assure you, I've heard far worse, and he probably has, too. I wouldn't tell Rone that, however. He works hard to keep Kolyat on what he believes to be the proper path in life."

Her eyebrow arched. "You don't think it's the proper path?"

Looking over his shoulder at Thane, he hummed. "I think … children should be allowed to be children." He turned his attention back to Jasmine. "There is so much in this galaxy beyond Enkindler's Pass, but Rone allows his fear for Kolyat's safety to keep him from letting the boy even access the extranet to look up something sparking his interest without a chaperone." Drali's frills darkened a little, and he added, "If you are kind, you won't mention this to Rone, either. We've spoken about it a few times, but it'd displease him to know I shared my opinions with someone outside of the family."

"I believe that's reasonable for a boy his age," Thane said, joining the conversation from his place in the kitchen. "The extranet is filled with unsavory material and people who might take advantage of him." He tucked the last of the flowers into the glass of water and threw away the scraps. Picking up the makeshift vase, he carried it to the table, setting it down near Jasmine before taking a seat. "However … I believe Irikah would've wanted to encourage him to explore the world around him—the galaxy, even—within reason. To follow his heart and sate his curiosity."

"What do you think, Jasmine?" Drali raised a brow ridge.

"Ha!" She shook her head and leaned back in her chair. "Oh no, I'm not the person to ask about this kind of thing, and it's not my place to comment on Kolyat's upbringing."

"I, too, am curious to know what you think, siha." Thane folded his hands on top of the table and watched her.

She groaned and glanced up at the ceiling. "I don't know anything about taking care of kids, Thane."

He made a soft, dismissive sound deep in his throat. "You don't think you adequately cared for Rift?"

"Rift? You have a child, as well?" Drali's face took on an appraising cast as she met his gaze, his head cocked, lips slightly pursed.

"No." She shook her head. "Rift is a homeless kid I met on the Citadel; he didn't have any parents." Shrugging she folded her arms across her chest. "I helped him out a few times, fed him, bought him clothes … he grew on me. I helped him get adopted by a family I know back on Earth. I'm not raising him myself," she said, glancing at Thane, "there's a big difference."

_A very big difference. And thank God I'm not raising him. Even if I wasn't an assassin, making it just as dangerous for a kid to be with me as it'd be for you, my understanding of what it means to be a good mother died the day my own mother took her life. Sure, I get the basics—you feed them, bathe them, clothe them, make sure they've got a roof over their heads … but everything else is just …._

Drali waved his hand, brushing aside the obvious differences in situations, as if it didn't excuse her from weighing in on the subject. "Then tell me, what would this family you know say on the matter?"

"Hmmm." Jasmine grinned, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table and lace her fingers together under her chin; Geoffrey and Karin's words floating back to her from ancient times. "They'd probably say discipline is an important part of child-rearing, but so is trust and being given the room to make their own mistakes. Kids learn through trial and error as much as from observing those around them, if their parents don't let them mess up from time to time, they'll never learn from their mistakes, and then when they're adults, they won't know how to solve their own problems, either."

"You agree with this?" Thane asked, his tone free of judgement, holding only curiosity.

She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side, considering it for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, I guess so."

* * *

A moment of doubt swept through Thane, leaving his stomach churning with dread and his chest threatening to ache. He knew Jasmine was far more equipped to be a mother than she believed, and although her words often implied she held no desire to be a mother, he'd seen how much she'd grown to love Rift in the short time she knew him; how much it hurt her to tell him goodbye, even if she knew she'd remain a part of his life. What if she decided she did want to be a mother? It wasn't something Thane could ever give her, even if biology allowed for such cross-species breeding. Even adoption would never be an option for her if she tied herself to him. How could he ever bring himself to be responsible for another child—he wasn't even raising his own son? But neither did he want to be the cause of her denying herself that experience, if it became something she wanted.

"What else did Kolyat say?" She slid the glass of flowers over a little closer and started rearranging them—he thought more for the sake of having something to do with her idle hands than because of any disapproval of how he'd arranged them the first time.

She'd been so nervous about meeting Kolyat, it made him wonder if she feared his son didn't like her beyond, as she said, thinking her being an alien was 'cool'. Perhaps she just felt apprehensive about Kolyat eventually learning she and Thane were involved romantically.

_Does she think I won't love her if Kolyat doesn't approve of her?_

Drali chuckled. "I can recount the entire conversation for you, if you like, but we'll be sitting here for quite some time, and I hoped to convince the two of you to go out with me. There's not much to do in Enkindler's Pass, but if you're at all interested, we do have a museum and a theater." He turned his attention to Thane. "Have you taken her to see any of the city's attractions?"

"Ah." Thane clasped his hands together. "I have not. I'm afraid I've been rather selfish with her time since she arrived on Kahje."

Jasmine snorted, and he saw mischief dancing in her rainforest colored eyes. Drali chuckled, and when Thane glanced at him, his face mirrored the same look as hers.

"Arashu save me," Thane said, pushing away from the table, "you're both impossible."


	8. Oceans and the Afterlife

**Oceans and the Afterlife**

Even though the tunnel didn't narrow as it carried them deeper and deeper underground, Jasmine almost felt the massive weight of the unfathomable tons of mountain looming over her head, pressing down on her, threatening to crush the life out of her. The soft, faint row of lights lining the ceiling did little to dampen the toxic threat of a panic attack creeping along her spine, making her muscles tight, leaving her with the desire to flee.

And therein laid the problem—the real problem—she couldn't flee just then. A dozen other people pressed in behind her and another dozen ahead of her, bodies huddled together wall to wall, blocking her escape. If not for the warmth of Thane's shoulder against hers, and the smile on Kolyat's face every time he looked at her, she'd really be crawling out of her skin and pushing her way back through the crowd, no matter how many guts she needed to ram her elbow into or toes she had to step on to get back out.

The air felt cooler and damper in the tunnels, getting worse the farther they went, taking them closer to the ocean. She narrowed her eyes at Thane, watching him for any sign of discomfort, but he only caught her gaze and smiled, pressing against her shoulder a little more. She grinned, his smile easing some of her tension, and leaned into him, returning his covert affectionate gesture.

Scanning the crowd before glancing over at Kolyat, she let out an exaggerated huff of a sigh. "I'm pretty sure we've been walking all day, how much further?"

The young drell cocked his brow ridge at her, looking every bit as if he were the adult and she a child in need of humoring. "We have not been walking all day, but we are nearly there."

She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out, letting her lips flap together as she turned her attention forward again. Her gaze met that of a small child's, maybe three or four, leaning over a man's shoulder a little ways into the crowd. Jasmine smiled, but they hid their face against the older drell's neck.

"Kolyat's birthday is in a week," Thane said, the tone of his voice telling her that he felt as much at a loss for conversation as she did after making idle chit-chat for an hour and counting.

"Yeah?" She turned back to Kolyat and raised her eyebrows. "Any big plans to celebrate?"

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then closed it again and shook his head.

Thane cleared his throat. "Drell don't traditionally celebrate birthdays—not the ways you're accustomed to, at least."

"When we are young, the day is spent with our mother, showing her our gratitude for giving us life." The sorrow in Kolyat's voice felt like a vise grip clamping down around one of the ventricles of her heart and twisting. He grimaced, seeming to wrestle with the emotion for a moment before swallowing, the features of his face leveling out. "When we are older, or when our mothers are with us no more, we spend the day in Arashu's temple—at least those of us who follow the old religion—until the sun has set. Then, we return home. Aunt Kelena usually prepares whatever meal I want for dinner on the evening of my birthday, and this year, I think Quinlo will join us. I hope Father will, as well, and you, too, if you are available."

"Indeed, I hoped to join you at the temple." Thane reached around Jasmine to squeeze his son's shoulder. "If you don't mind?"

"I would like that, thank you, Father." Kolyat's gaze drifted back to Jasmine, the question clear in his eyes.

"I'm available, so long as Rone and Kelena are alright with it." She glanced at Thane. "And your father, too."

Thane chuckled, his fingers brushing across the small of her back as he pulled his hand away from Kolyat and tucked it behind his back. "I'd be pleased to have you join us, of course, and I'm sure Rone and Kelena will as well."

"Then I'll be there." She grinned, glancing back at Kolyat. "Hey," she said, and bumped her shoulder against his, making him give her an odd, uncertain look. "Are we there yet?"

Kolyat chuckled and shook his head. "Almost."

"Jasmine, you're whining." Thane lifted a brow ridge, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a playful smile. "If Kolyat returns home with this new behavior, his uncle will never forgive me."

She snorted and shrugged. "I never said I'd be a good influence on him."

Kolyat scoffed. "You should hear Quinlo's brother. He is younger, only nine, and he whines constantly."

Laughing, she rolled her head back, hearing the echo off the tunnel's walls, feeling the crowd shift around her, putting a little more space between them and the crazy alien woman. Turning her attention back to Kolyat, she grinned. "I bet I can put the kid to shame, if I try."

"Ah. I urge you not to doubt her, else she'll take it as a challenge and spend the rest of the day proving it to you." Thane smirked. "Perhaps the rest of her time on Kahje."

"You underestimate me." She trapped her lip between her teeth, reveling in the twitch of his eyes widening a hair in response. "I'll spend the rest of his life proving it, if that's what it takes."

"Indeed." He glanced away from her, and then lifted his hand to point down the path. "Look, we've arrived."

Jasmine turned her attention to the front, catching the first glimpse of dark water pressed against clear glass.

_Christ, how far down are we? The water looks damn near black, and how the hell did they get glass thick enough not to crack under so much pressure?_

The crowd thinned as the tunnel opened up into a dim cavern, the entire far wall nothing but glass, the flicker of bioluminescence dancing on the other side. Hanar swam past, their tentacles pulling up around their bodies before shooting out behind them, propelling them through the water. Schools of brightly colored fish glowed in the illumination just before darting away from the hanar. In the depths of the ocean, the hanars' bioluminescence wasn't the faint, pastel glow she'd become accustomed to seeing from them on land, but bright and vivid, carrying far more colors than she imagined.

Kolyat led them to a bench carved from the stone of the cave wall, its angle allowing them the perfect view of the window into the ocean, and Jasmine sat down with the two of them. Whatever she expected when Kolyat told her that he wanted to take her to 'The Threshold', it certainly wasn't where she found herself. She watched the light show for a few minutes, remembering the aquariums back on Earth and reminding herself that she wasn't seeing just animals on the other side of the glass, but people, too. Seeing a hanar on the Citadel, or even moving along outside the domed city on Kahje was one thing, hell, even seeing them swim from the surface of the ocean … but seeing them as they were in front of her …. She hated herself for the mental disconnect, the fact she'd even need to remind herself the glowing entity, ensnaring a fish in long, serpentine tentacles before pulling the squirming creature to their mouth, might very well be the same person she bought groceries from the week before. But damn if they weren't beautiful, so much more graceful and ethereal in their natural environment.

The family, with the child she'd caught looking at her earlier, spread a blanket out on the floor right up against the glass. The woman sat a basket down before folding her legs beneath her and reached up, taking the kid in her arms when the man handed her the little girl—at least Jasmine thought she was a girl, based on how she dressed. Sitting down next to them, the man opened the basket and began laying out bowls and small jars.

Jasmine expected it to be food for a picnic in the basket, but instead, the drell seemed to be setting up some sort of altar. She glanced around her, noticing several other people doing the same throughout the cavern. The flicker of flames caught her eye, and then a moment later, the pungent aromas of burning herbs reached her nostrils. Pursing her lips, she suddenly felt wholly out of place, an intruder in a sanctuary where she didn't belong.

Thane caught her gaze and held it, gesturing toward the dark water in front of her. "The ocean is closely associated with one of our goddesses: Kalahira, the goddess of oceans and the afterlife." Turning a little, he glanced over his shoulder toward the wall at their left, across the expansive cavern. "Officially, this place is called Enkindler's Grotto, but we call it Kalahira's Threshold. Many like to come here to feel closer to those they've lost. It's thought the incense might entice their spirits to cross the sea again to visit."

"Why two names?" Jasmine squinted her eyes at the wall, barely able to tell over the distance that something was different about the stone, lights in the floor casting it in eerie shadows.

"Originally, The Threshold was created as a place where drell could look upon the hanar, the saviors of our people, as they are meant to be seen," Kolyat said, pulling her attention back to him. "With the island already called Enkindler's Pass, Enkindler's Grotto seemed like a natural choice for the hanar, and so it was recorded as such. In time, as our traditions started to fade and with our temples forever left behind on Rakhana, our people began gathering at Enkindler's Grotto to pray and commune with the spirits of their loved ones. Eventually it became known as Kalahira's Threshold, or more simply, The Threshold, but the records remain the same." He leaned back against the cool stone and draped an arm over the side before flashing a wide grin at her. "At least that is what we are taught in our history lessons."

Jasmine arched a brow, finding his grin infectious. "That was straight out of your classes' textbook, wasn't it?"

He dipped his head. "Indeed."

She chuckled, but she still couldn't shake the feeling she didn't belong there. Whether it's original intent was in service to the glorification of the hanar or a goddess, the place was holy to the people around her. It'd be like a drell tourist sitting in for Sunday service … or maybe crashing a funeral for a stranger back on Earth.

Thane leaned over, whispering in her ear, "Relax, siha, you are perhaps more welcome here than anywhere else on Kahje."

Keeping her voice just as low, she asked, "Why's that?"

"Because you've also lost people you care about, and despite whatever differences there are between humans and drell, in the end we're all the same. We all die; entropy always wins." He inhaled, a small hum leaving his throat as he pulled away from her and sat back.

She swallowed, fighting back the urge to take his hand in hers and never let go.

* * *

Thane followed just a few steps behind, listening as Kolyat named various sea creatures swimming past the glass while he led Jasmine along the wall. As much as he loved interacting with his son and seemed to perpetually long for Jasmine's touch, he found he liked their current dynamics quite well: him little more than a shadow moving behind them, watching over them as they bonded. A place he was familiar with, after all, he spent much of his time in the same position with Irikah …. However, this time, he made a point to not only protect but to learn, hoping to soak up some of Jasmine's innate, interpersonal skills.

"The blue and yellow one right there is a  _bastial_." Kolyat pressed his finger to the glass. "When we catch fish, we return the  _bastials_  because they are favored by the hanar."

"What about this one?" Jasmine pointed at a red and gray  _su'tine_.

Something told Thane that she didn't really care about the names and natures of the fish, but she gave Kolyat her rapt attention and asked questions nevertheless, smiling at his answers, gaze following wherever he directed. He seemed more than content playing tour-guide, perhaps it was all the reason and reward she needed. Indeed, there might be a lesson in there for Thane.

" _Su'tine_." Kolyat glanced at her, waiting for her to meet his gaze before continuing, "They are toxic for you or I, but the hanar are able to eat them."

They walked a little further, stopping again when they neared more fish, picking at the algae growing on the other side of the glass. Jasmine glanced over her shoulder at Thane and smiled, discreetly waving her hand where Kolyat wouldn't see, beckoning Thane closer. Dipping his head and returning her smile, he moved a little closer and rested his hand on Kolyat's shoulder.

Kolyat glanced at Thane briefly, his smile warm and peaceful before he turned his attention back to the glass, pointing. "These are called mindfish. I am told the hanar eat them as a means of recreational intoxication, but they have little to no effect on drell."

"However, they have a quite potent effect, more so than with the hanar, on some other species," Thane said, making an attempt to contribute to the conversation. "Asari, batarian, volus, and humans will experience hallucinations for an entire day or more. Not so much krogans and salarians; krogans have a naturally high tolerance towards most substances and salarians tend to metabolize the secretions too rapidly for them to experience a prolonged effect. Turians and quarians can't consume them, of course. I don't know how what effect they have on elcor or vorcha."

Eyes sparkling, Jasmine pressed her lips into a thin line and looked away, the expression perplexing to him until a reedy giggle escaped her control a heartbeat later. Her shoulders jerked with her laughter, and she clamped a hand down over her mouth. Soon, both she and Kolyat were snickering, leaving Thane puzzled.

"Ah," he said, thinking he might understand his blunder. "Perhaps this is not the most appropriate topic." He glanced at Kolyat. "I suppose I should've discouraged you from discussing intoxicating substances as opposed to providing you with more information on their effects."

"Well, I mean ..." Jasmine took a deep breath, and cleared her throat, seeming to regain her composure. "... I think maybe if anything a conversation on their negative effects and why he shouldn't use them."

Kolyat turned and patted Thane's shoulder. "Do not worry, Father. I have heard far more from Uncle Drali, and Uncle Rone has already discussed with me the things Jasmine speaks of."

"Indeed?" Thane tucked his hands behind his back. "Perhaps I'd be better served having such a conversation with Drali, then."

Kolyat grinned, turning back to the fish, already pointing at another. Just then, a hanar stopped swimming, remaining next to the glass in Thane's peripherals. He turned, taking in the hanar, noting the deep, still-healing gouges etched into his flesh.

" _This one remembers you,"_ the hanar said using his bioluminescence to communicate through the glass. " _This one is grateful to you and the human."_

Thane bowed to the hanar, and he swam away.

"Father, what does he mean?" The confusion in Kolyat's voice left Thane scrambling for an explanation.

Turning back to Kolyat, Thane cleared his throat and absently waved his hand, hoping he wouldn't need to outright lie to his son. "He was in trouble on the Citadel, so Jasmine and I helped him." He could see the next question forming just on the tip of Kolyat's tongue.

"It was actually really embarrassing," Jasmine cut in, drawing Kolyat's attention to her. "I got hurt in the process and was laid up in bed for days, so maybe we can talk about something else?"

Kolyat dipped his head to her, tucking his hands behind his back. "Of course, my apologies."

And with that, the conversation was over—if not forgotten. Kolyat started walking again, and Thane took a cleansing breath, offering Jasmine a soft smile to show his gratitude. She winked at him before following Kolyat.

Not for the first time since arriving at Kalahira's Threshold, Thane became aware of more than a few distantly familiar faces watching him as he scanned the crowd. His name and Irikah's, whispered in pitied tones, echoed back to him from across the chamber, twisting his insides into painful knots. Oh, he knew they didn't mean to cause him any grievance, they probably didn't even realize their voices were carrying, and surely most wouldn't be expected to pick out specifics over the noise of the crowd. Of course they were shocked to see him, but still, it hurt. He remained steadfast, keeping the emotions from his face, as he started walked. He only hoped Kolyat didn't hear the whispers in his distraction; he prayed their voices didn't carry across the sea to Irikah's ears.

_Perhaps she's watching me even now. What must she think of me, bringing Jasmine here with our son?_

He expected people to recognize him when he returned to Enkindler's Pass. Though he'd been careful not to use his name in any legal manner—using an alias when he checked into the hospital and rehabilitation center, relying on the credits in his alias' account for all purchases, anything that might be tracked—there were people here who knew him … before Irikah died and he left. He thought it inevitable, especially while with Kolyat, for someone to identify him as Thane Krios. Had he spent more time at home, with his wife and child, instead of in other solar systems for weeks at a time, there'd likely be far more people still in Enkindler's Pass who knew his name … knew he'd abandoned his son after his wife was murdered in their home.

He ignored them and the pain it caused, instead, keeping his focus on the only two people in the room who could possibly matter to him. It wasn't too difficult until Kolyat stopped in his tracks, his face turned to the ground beneath his feet, shoulders folding in on themselves.

"Perhaps we should go, Father." Jaw clenching, fists balling up at his sides, tears welled in the corners of his eyes when he turned to look at Thane.

Anger flared, white-hot inside of Thane. Who were these people to make his son feel so unwelcome? He took a deep breath, using it to anchor himself, to still the rising tide before it swept him away.

"What? What happened? Oh God, did I say something wrong?" Panic painted Jasmine's voice with sour tones, something he'd only heard there twice before: the night he nearly died and the night they first kissed.

It only added to his ire, because hearing fear in her voice made him want to reach out to her, pull him against his chest and assure her all was well, but he couldn't do that, not in front of Kolyat. Not yet. Her gaze bounced back and forth between him and Kolyat, brow furrowed, mouth contorted as if she bit the inside of her cheek.

Kolyat blinked several times before looking at her. "No … I—I just do not want to be here any longer."

Thane looked past Kolyat, spotting two young men, no more than two or three years older than Kolyat, but old enough to be considered adults in many circles—making their behavior that much more abhorrent. They stood, leaning against the relief of Kalahira carved into the wall, the floor lights meant to shine on an image of the divine lit their faces instead, faces twisted into cruelty as they watched his son. One of them met Thane's gaze and snickered, looking back at his friend before jerking his head in Thane's direction.

* * *

When Thane's face stilled, shifting into a mask as cold and rigid as the mountain enveloping them, the hairs on the back of Jasmine's neck stood on end. Following his gaze, her jaw snapped closed hard enough her teeth rattled inside her head, and she stared daggers at the two drell. The trained assassin and the street rat fought a war within her, one insisting she not draw any more attention to herself while the other wanted nothing more than to knock their teeth down their throats.

She pulled in a slow, deep breath, remembering all the asshole bullies she'd dealt with in her past. Chasing her down on the playground, shoving her back and forth between them while taunting her about her father, saying he left because he hated Jasmine. Kids in the orphanage cornering her in the bathrooms, making her fight to keep what few belongings she held on to from home. Jaded teenagers, high out of their minds and living on the streets, spitting in her face and calling her weak when she cried at night, missing home, missing her mother. Of course, she could never forget The Yankee, Mr. Mysterious, and Blondie. She'd like to say none of them would ever forget her either, but The Yankee wouldn't be remembering anyone, long dead in his grave with Geoffrey's bullet in his head.

"We can go, if you wish," Thane said, his voice taking on the same soothing quality he used with her whenever she became upset.

Snapping her gaze back to him, she shook her head. "No."

He blinked, lips parting as he looked at her, the light just enough for her to catch the flicker of movement of his eyes as he searched her face.

Licking her lips, she took another deep breath and turned her attention to Kolyat, putting her hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but then stilled beneath her touch, watching her with a clear mixture of shock and curiosity.

"Kolyat, listen to me. I know you don't really know me, so you've got no real reason to trust what I'm telling you, but I hope you will anyway." She glanced back at the two drell leaning against the mural. "Those assholes over there aren't worth your time." Holding his wide-eyed gaze, she continued, "Forgive my language, but they're not. I know people like them, I've dealt with far too many in my life, and I'm telling you now, if you leave because of them, it'll only get worse. Don't run." She wanted to add 'never run', but maybe that was a little too much for the kid just then. Besides, with what he'd been through and who his father was, there very well might be a time when it's either run or die.

"Hold your head up high and do what you came here to do." She offered him a lopsided smile, hoping her tone came across as more encouraging and less manic. "Enjoy spending time with your father and educate the alien on the local wildlife, okay?"

He glanced from her to his father, and she turned her head to look at Thane, too, dropping her hand back to her side. Thane watched her, the weight of his gaze enough to make her want to grab his lapels and beg him to trust her. Just as she thought he'd surely insist they leave, he dipped his head.

_Thank you._

"Jasmine makes an excellent point," he said, lifting his gaze to hers before glancing at his son, "but the choice is yours, Kolyat."

Kolyat lowered his gaze, appearing to study his father's feet for a moment before nodding. Chewing on her lip, she held her breath, praying she didn't just make a huge mistake. His shoulders lifted, squaring, and he looked at her, tucking his hands behind his back. "I wanted to show you the  _kin'lu_ growing near the glass," he said, turning back around, gaze fixed on the water, and started walking again.

She grinned, relief and pride flooding her and glanced at Thane. He smiled at her, the soft, gentle upturn of his lips he seemed to save just for her and held his hand out, gesturing for her to follow Kolyat.

* * *

"Where would you like to go for dinner?" Thane slid his arm around her waist as they stopped at the cab stand and put in a call for a taxi. As much as he loved spending time with his son, and seeing the two of them together, it relieved him to be able to feel her warmth beneath the palm of his hand once more.

Turning into him, she draped her arms over his shoulders and pressed her lips to his. He hummed, pleased by her unexpected kiss and pulled her in a little closer, tongue meeting hers when she opened her mouth to him. Lifting a hand to her face when her lips left his, he caressed her cheek. "What's that for?"

"Didn't think I needed a reason," she said, scraping her teeth over her lip, "but, because I love you."

He leaned in and kissed her again, a chaste brush of his lips against hers. "And I you, siha."

She beamed at him, eyes full of the love she just professed. "The place we ran into Drali at was good. How about there?"

"Whatever you like." He pulled away from her and opened the skycar's door for her when it arrived. He waited for her to climb inside before settling into the seat next to her, closing the door, he entered the address of the restaurant.

Scooting a little closer as the auto-pilot took over, lifting the cab into the air, she leaned against his side, pulling his arm around her. "I hope I didn't upset you earlier, with what I said to Kolyat."

"It surprised me, but it didn't upset me." He rubbed her arm, bare skin smooth as silk beneath his fingers. "I'm glad he decided to take your advice, I believe it was the right thing to do, it just pained me to see him upset."

"Yeah … I kinda wanted to go kick their asses." She snuggled in closer to him, pressing her face against his chest.

He kissed the top of her head. "As did I."

She snorted, tilting her head back to look at him. "Kolyat would've loved that." She shrugged as much as possible without pulling away from him. "Or been completely embarrassed and told you he hates you. With kids his age, you can never tell."

Thane chuckled. "He has far better things to hate me for, it amazes me he doesn't." Rubbing her arm again, he swallowed. "I owe you a debt of gratitude I don't think can ever be truly repaid."

She reached up, her hand tracing the curve of his jaw. "You don't owe me anything, Thane. You owed him, but you're doing right by him now."

"I owe you everything." Ducking his head down, he pressed his lips to hers before she started to argue.

She giggled against his lips, obviously understanding his ploy, but shifted to her knees, using them as leverage to claim his mouth completely. Moaning in approval, he hooked his hand behind one of her legs and pulled her over to sit on his lap. She wove her fingers through his crest, using the ridges to control the movements of his head, leaving him more than happy to submit to her will.

She tugged his head back, tearing her lips away from his. "You." She kissed him again. "Do." Her teeth nipped his lip, pulling a low, hungry groan from him. "Not." Tongue darting out, she licked the place she just bit. "Owe." Her lips brushed back and forth over his. "Me." She stopped and stared into his eyes, making him want to pull her back to him, but he knew she was serious. "Anything."

He cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb over her lips. "Very well, siha." But he did. He knew it, and he'd never forget everything she'd done for him, reuniting him with Kolyat, giving him back a reason to live, and healing his wounded soul.

The skycar dropped, settling itself on the platform, but she didn't move from his lap, holding his gaze a moment longer. She sighed, a soft breath he barely heard, and kissed him again. Letting go of his head, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled her face down against the side of his. Splaying his fingers out over her back, he pulled her a little closer and just held her there, sitting in the silence.

After a moment she pulled away and let out another sigh, far more exaggerated than the last. "Come on, I'm starving."

Laughing, he let her go, and she slid from his lap. He opened the door and stepped out before turning around and holding his hand out to her, helping her from the cab. Keeping hold of her hand, he led her inside, and within two minutes they were seated at a table, looking over the menu.

He glanced over at her, smiling at the way she moved her lips around whenever she tried to decide between several appealing options. "Tell me something about yourself."

She turned her attention to him, eyebrows lifting. "Like what?"

Considering for a moment, he leaned back in his chair. A few seconds later he waved his hand toward the table they'd occupied the last time they were at the restaurant. "Tell me about Las Vegas. I gathered you were there the same time as Drali, and for some reason this bothered you until you learned where exactly he stayed during his visit. What happened there?"

"Hmmm. You're getting too good at reading me. I'll have to work on that." She looked back at the menu, entering her order into the datapad. "I spent six weeks seducing a very wealthy, very famous man, Heinrich Schneider. I was his constant companion, visiting all of the major casinos, bars, theaters … until he gave me the information I needed." Glancing back up at Thane, the corner of her mouth lifted. "And then I killed him."

Using sex as a means to get closer to a target wasn't an unfamiliar concept for him, he'd been trained to do the same, and in fact had done the same a time or two before he met Irikah. But never since. It didn't surprise him to learn Jasmine employed the same methods, but spending six weeks with a target in such an intimate way seemed … excessive. Propping his elbows on the table, he clasped his hands together and rested his fingers against his lips. He watched her for a moment, weighing out his feelings on the topic, until she lifted her brows again, defiance filling her eyes.

"What?" She leaned in and folded her arms over the table.

He smiled at her, fully aware he skirted the edges of a land mine, and if he gave voice to his thoughts, it'd be the equivalent of willingly triggering the explosion while he stood right next to the device. Instead, he turned his attention to placing his order and asked, "You were concerned Drali might've seen you with this man?"

"Well, yeah." She lifted her shoulders. "It'd be awkward enough if he remembered me with another man, but if you throw in the fact I used an alias and the man ended up dead …."

"Indeed." He reached across the table, turning his palms out to her, and she took his hands. "Though, I admit, it might've been amusing to watch you explain yourself to him."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Ass."

He chuckled and squeezed her hands. "Tell me something else; anything else. I want to know all there is to know about you, siha."

A soft blush spread across her cheeks, and he found he enjoyed being the one to put it there.

"Um, hmm. Okay. My favorite color is purple. I'm an Aries." She chuckled when he cocked his head to the side. "Not Ares, but Aries. Sounds the same, but I'm referring to western astrology. What else? Oh, I was born in the year of the tiger; it's from the Chinese zodiac. You already know my favorite book and movie series. I—"

"Jasmine," he said with a laugh, "this is useful information, but I hoped for something more …."

"Personal?" She smiled at him, the teasing glint easing back from her eyes as she brushed her thumbs over his knuckles.

"Indeed." He dropped his gaze to their hands. "I love you. I know this with everything I am, but there's still so little I actually know about you." Lifting his head to meet her gaze once again, he found empathy and affection in her eyes.

"I love you, too, and I want you to know me … I just don't really know where to start with such an open-ended question." Tilting her head a little, she brought her shoulder up to meet her ear. "Maybe narrow it down for me a little bit?"

He hummed, a million questions running through his head before he plucked one from the masses. "When you're falling asleep at night, what do you think about?"

She blinked twice and pursed her lip. "Well, since meeting you, I've spent a lot of nights thinking about you." She grinned. "Though I have very different thoughts about you now than I once did. Some nights I think about work, or Geoffrey and his family. Rift. Sometimes, though not so often anymore, I think about my parents … until I'm in tears. I've replayed the night Leon died in my head many times since then. Last night I thought about Cerberus some. Before I met Geoffrey, my nights were mostly spent trying to figure out how I was going to eat the next day … or get more red sand. When I was little," she said, squinting and staring at the table as if it'd help her to see into the distant past, "it's hard to remember, but I think I use to fantasize about what life would be like as an adult; being able to do whatever I wanted, go wherever I wanted, eat whatever I wanted—cake for breakfast and a whole package of cream cheese for lunch." She chuckled and looked back up at him. "What about you?"

Thane cleared his throat and glanced around him before meeting her gaze once more. "Before I met you and before I felt close to you, I mostly thought about Irikah. Not—I used her memory to punish myself." He stopped to swallow, pushing away the memories threatening to rise to the surface, using the soft, consoling caress of her hand over his to anchor himself. "Over the last few months, while you were away, my last thoughts were always of you. Oh, I'd spend some time thinking about Kolyat and my treatments, maybe something one of the nurses said earlier in the day, or a conversation with Rone, but as my mind settled, I thought of you. I used your memory to keep me going, especially early on when the treatments were the most painful. The sound of your voice telling me you love me, the feel of your hand in mine, the way you smell, and taste …" He felt the heat creep into his frills, but made no attempt to hide it from her. "... I made love to you every night, and fell asleep with you in my arms."

The sheen to her eyes told him she fought back tears, and he only hoped love and fondness fueled those tears, because the last thing he wanted was to make her sad. Still, if she kept them at bay, she wouldn't want him to ask, or so he thought.

"Do you still use her memory to punish yourself?" She asked, her voice soft, barely above a whisper.

"No, not intentionally, though it is still quite painful when I think of her at times, especially if I'm with Kolyat." He let go of her hands and sat back, clearing the way when the waiter arrived with their drinks.

As soon as the waiter left again, she moved her glass aside and reached for him again with one hand. "I hope, for your sake and Kolyat's, you find a way to feel at peace when you remember her," she said when he took her hand. "Maybe even find some joy in the positive memories."

"I'd like that, and perhaps in time I will." He took a deep breath and prayed to Arashu that Jasmine didn't take offense with his next statement. "Siha … I think you may be using Leon's memory to punish yourself, as well. I understand if you never find any joy in his memory, but I don't wish to see you hurt yourself with him, either."

Hand twitching against his palm, she closed her eyes and swallowed. After several slow breaths she opened her eyes again and nodded. "Yeah, maybe a little. I still have a lot of hurt and a lot of anger toward him … and a part of me hates that I'm the one who killed him, even though I still think it was the right thing in the moment. God only knows how many more people he would've tried to kill if I didn't stop him, and I know him … knew him—there's no way in hell he'd have given up while still breathing. He wouldn't have let me bring him in, and he would've tried again to kill you and Nevas. I couldn't let that happen, and I think it'd be worse for me if you'd been the one to kill him instead."

He hadn't considered the possibility. Of course he'd have killed Leon himself if he'd needed to, but it never occurred to him that had he, Jasmine might harbor ill feelings toward him for the act. He supposed he understood why—she'd loved Leon once, and he was her handler, not to mention she felt responsible for everything that happened on Illium—but it pained him to consider if things went just a little differently, he might've lost her because of the man.

Forcing himself to chuckle, he rubbed her hand. "It's unfortunate Nevas wasn't the one to take the shot, though I suppose his death would still bother you all the same."

She snickered, the sound relieving some of the tension in his chest. "Maybe, but I don't think I'd blame her one bit. Poor woman, she was absolutely terrified. I meant to give her some explanation, but I suppose with everything else going on …. Do you think I should send her a message?"

"It depends." He took a drink from his water glass. "Do you think reaching out to her can cause you further trouble with the Alliance?"

She let out a heavy breath. "Possibly, if they knew I'd spoken to her at least. No one told me not to contact her, but it's kind of a given."

"Then no, I don't think you should take such a risk, siha. It's been months, Nevas has returned home where she wished to be, and is likely moving on with her life." He turned out his empty palm. "If you like, I can message her as Saman."

"Mmm." She shook her head. "I doubt the Alliance is able to track the use of your alias through galactic communications, but still, the last thing either of us need is to give them a chance to locate you and try to question you about that night."

"Indeed." He didn't really believe it was a risk to use the alias in such a simple way, but he didn't want to do anything to trouble her mind, either.

Looking up as the waiter approached, carrying a tray laden with their plates, Thane caught sight of the two young men they'd seen teasing Kolyat coming through the door. One of them spotted Jasmine almost immediately, and then his gaze slid to Thane. The man smirked before nudging his companion, directing the other's attention toward their table. Suppressing a frown, Thane turned his attention to the waiter, smiling and thanking him as he laid out the plates.

A minute later, they chose a table not far from his, and Thane sighed, calculating the odds of being able to enjoy his evening with the woman he loved without being harassed by thugs. Jasmine watched him, her head cocking to the side before she glanced over her shoulder. A moment later, she looked back at him, a frown etched into her face.

"Tell me something else, siha," he said, hoping to distract her from the unfortunate intrusion. "Perhaps something pleasant, a memory from when you were very young?"

She hesitated, lips parted, and glanced over her shoulder again before turning her attention back to him. "When I was four-years-old, my mother took me to London to visit relatives. I'd never been so far from home before, and to me, it felt like the grandest adventure." She smiled, the sort of lopsided, mocking lift of her lips she got when she thought something seemed foolish. "I pretended I was visiting another planet and all of the people I met were aliens I'd heard about but never met. I called my great-aunt an asari, and her husband a turian." She chuckled, bringing a smile to his face. "I embarrassed the hell out of my mother."

He chuckled, digging into his salad and lifting a bite to his mouth. "What did your great-aunt and uncle think?"

"My aunt laughed about it and said something about how it reminded her of her children when they were little." She shrugged, picking at her own plate, then her grin widened, her face lighting up. "My uncle went along with it; he spent the entire week pretending to be a turian. He fashioned a crest out of sticks and glue and wore it whenever he played with me." Smile faltering, her brow furrowed. "That's not bad is it? I mean, he wasn't trying to make fun of turians, just make a kid's vacation a little brighter. The First Contact War was over by then …."

He offered her a reassuring smile and a light shake of his head. "I don't think so."

The hushed voices from the other table began to rise, words becoming more crisp, and more hateful—clearly designed to antagonize Thane. "No, he disappeared after the funeral. There were rumors that he died, too, but obviously it is not the case."

Thane lowered his gaze to his plate, taking a steadying breath and reminding himself nothing would be gained if he were to kill them simply because they wished to hurt him. When he looked back up again, he saw fire in Jasmine's eyes.

"Perhaps he killed his wife." One of the thugs said, and Thane winced.

Jasmine pushed her chair away from the table, and Thane reached for her, fingers closing around her wrist. She smiled at him—a look no doubt meant to be reassuring—but the murderous glare in her eyes as she shirked him off tied knots in his stomach. He watched her, blood racing through his veins as fear set in, worried she might be about to do something regrettable. She turned, the wide, fake smile she used with targets plastered on her face and crossed the floor, pulling out a chair at the other table.

The two drell watched her, eyes-wide and jaws slack, as she sat down and opened her omni-tool. Her fingers ran over the holographic screen before she waved it first in front of one drell, and then the other. She typed, ignoring their sudden protests, and then a moment later showed them both the screen once more. She spoke quietly, voice too low to travel back to him, but still he watched her every move, already committed to the course of action he'd take if either of them put a hand on her.

After a moment, the two drell scrambled away from their table, frills so dark he could no longer tell they were red. With their lips pressed tight, one hastily threw a credit chit down, and they rushed for the door. Jasmine stood back up and pushed in her chair before turning, a smug smile on her face as she made her way back to their table and sat down.

Raising his brow-ridges, he leaned over the table. "What did you say to them?"

She opened her omni-tool and turned the screen to face him. She'd taken their photos and placed them in a message using the 'report' option on the extranet site for The Department of the Preservation of the Enkindler's Legacy. The message she included quite simply said the two drell were witnessed performing crude acts with prothean artifacts in the Enkindler's Pass Museum of Hanar History, and they were overheard talking about defacing the artifacts. She'd yet to send the message.

Thane blinked, wondering if she understood the seriousness of the threat. The hanar were a passive, kind people, but they had absolutely no tolerance for the kinds of things she intended to accuse those men of, and she'd be ruining their lives if she sent the message. Even if they were found innocent of the crimes, the allegations would remain in the memories of everyone around them, and no hanar would ever trust them again. It was no surprise they left as quickly as they did.

"I told them to stay away from Kolyat and his family, and I won't hit 'send.'" She shrugged, closing her omni-tool again. "And just in case they thought I wasn't serious, or if they decided to do something stupid later, I was going to hang on to their pictures and made them watch while I sent copies to 'a good friend of mine.'"

"Who did you send them to?" Thane sat back, impressed as much as he felt alarmed by her quick thinking and devious maneuver.

She smirked. "Laura Kramer."

He blinked. "Who is Laura Kramer?"

Shrugging, she picked up her glass of iced  _elocol_. "The woman who killed Heinrich Schneider."


	9. Goodbyes

**Goodbyes**

"What's this?" Thane asked, picking up the small, wrapped box. Flipping it over once in his hand, he ran a finger over the smooth, coral colored paper and looked through the open bathroom door at Jasmine.

She glanced over her shoulder and grinned before turning back to the mirror. "I got Kolyat a birthday present." She shrugged, rifling through her little, black makeup bag. "I know it's not a drell tradition, but … I don't know, I just wanted to get him something."

Heart swelling with love for the incredible woman, he smiled, setting the package back down and moved into the bathroom to stand behind her at the sink. She met his gaze in the mirror, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him, warm and solid,  _real_  in his arms. He grazed her neck with his lips and teeth, savoring the smell of the ocean and fresh air on her skin and in her hair. He wished he were able to join her outside the city's protective walls, there were a few places he would've liked to show her as well, some of the places he trained while in the Compact. Chuckling at her exasperated sigh as she painted her lips with her fruit-scented gloss, he nipped at her bare shoulder.

Stowing the gloss in her pocket, she closed the bag and sat it aside. "We're going to be late if you keep that up." She turned, draping her arms over his neck and smirked, the familiar glint of mischief danced in her eyes, making his heart skip a beat. "Not that I'd mind, but Kolyat might."

"Mmm. I suppose we can't have that." He ran his hand over her hair, still loose around her shoulders, burying his face against her neck and breathed in deep before letting it out in a sigh and meeting her gaze. He really did need to watch himself, leaving his scent all over her might draw unwanted attention, but knowing she'd be leaving him again very soon …. He kissed her, careful not to smear her freshly applied lip gloss and then rested his forehead against hers. "I love you." Licking his lips, he pulled the sweetened taste into his mouth—she'd called the flavor 'strawberry' but he smelled far more of the fruit than he tasted in the oily substance.

"I love you, too." She cupped his cheek, pushing at his jaw just enough to urge him to meet her gaze. "Hey, we won't be apart forever. You'll finish your treatments, and then you'll come find me, yeah?"

"Always." He tightened his grip around her waist, willing her to feel the truth of his words through his touch. "As long as I draw breath, I will find you, siha." He swallowed, fighting back the sudden urge to carry her back to the bed and never leave it again. "You have my word."

She held his gaze for a long moment, silence lingering between them as she seemed to weigh his words. "And you have mine. I have no intentions of letting you slip through my fingers and disappear from my life, Thane Krios." Brushing her thumb over his the ridge of his cheek, she kissed him, keeping her mouth next to his as she whispered, "Even if it means from time to time I have to hunt you down and drag you kicking and screaming back out of your battle sleep."

Something inside of him eased, a knot unfurling in the center of his chest. It was something he tried not to think about too closely—how easily he'd drifted away from Irikah in her absence and how he feared the same might happen with Jasmine if he didn't stand vigilant, holding her in his thoughts at all times when they parted ways. That she saw this in him and loved him enough to fight for him, even if it meant fighting against him, made him love her all the more.

He closed his eyes and brought his forehead back to hers. "Thank you."

She hummed and pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in an embrace. "Let's see if you still feel grateful when it actually happens. Now, I think we have somewhere we're supposed to be."

"Indeed." He chuckled, letting her go and stepping back out of the bathroom. "What did you get for him?"

Picking up the package, she turned it over in her hands and frowned. "It's a bracelet made of small pieces of shell. The guy I bought it from swore it'd be an appropriate gift for a kid Kolyat's age; apparently they're trendy right now." She glanced up at him, scrunching up her nose. "I don't really have any idea what sorts of things he's interested in … other than fish and medical research."

Reading her expression as self-conscious and doubtful, he offered her a reassuring smile and accepted the gift when she held it out to him. "I'm sure he'll like it, and be quite pleased you think enough of him to want to get him a gift."

She scooped her hair up in her hands, smoothing it out before pulling the elastic tie off her wrist to wrap it around the bundle, tying her hair back atop her head. "And if he doesn't, he's far too polite to say so."

Thane chuckled, dipping his head. "Indeed."

"So, what does one do spending the day in a temple with their father for their birthday?" She made her way to the door, glancing over her shoulder at him.

"Pray. Spend time with the priests. Reminisce." He held his arm out to her as they left her hotel room, and she wrapped her hand around the inside of his elbow. "I think it was cathartic, for both of us."

She smiled at him, a soft, slight upward tilt of her lips. Grip tightening on his arm, she leaned into him. "I'm glad to hear. I bet it meant a lot to him to have you there, too."

"I think so, yes." He led her down the hall, toward the lobby. "It still amazes me to be here, so close to him. Even more so to have had the chance to share time with you both, together."

"You think he'll be okay when it's time for you to leave again?" she asked, voice soft.

He turned his gaze to the floor in front of him and shook his head. "I think he's going to be crushed. But … in time, he'll adjust. Once he realizes, with no uncertainty, I intend to remain in his life the best I can."

"And … are you going to be okay when it's time for you to leave again?" She kept her tone low, unintrusive, like a whisper on the wind, something felt more than heard.

"I—I believe I will be. It won't be easy, by any means, but I know it's what's best for both of us." He looked up, searching her face for some sign she truly understood, or at least some sign she didn't disagree. Finding nothing by sympathy in her gaze, he smiled. "And I'll know you're waiting for me."

"Mhmm. I hope you don't keep me waiting too long. Who knows what trouble I might get up to without you." She winked, pulling a soft laugh from him.

* * *

Jasmine forced a smile at the drell boy gawking at her across the table. Kolyat not-so-discreetly elbowed his friend in the ribs, but still, Quinlo stared. Rone cleared his throat, and finally the kid dropped his gaze to his plate. Kolyat gave her an apologetic look, and her smile softened to something more real. She didn't fault the kid for his curiosity, but damn if it wasn't getting old. Unlike Kolyat who looked at her with awe when they first met, Quinlo looked at her as if she were a science project, a specimen he was trying to figure out how best to dissect. She'd never felt so unnerved by a child before, every inch of her skin crawled, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, and that little voice in the back of her head warned her to keep her distance.

Finally getting a moment's reprieve from Little Mr. Creepy Pants' scrutiny, she pulled the wrapped box up from her lap, setting it on the table in front of her and turned her attention to Kolyat. "I know it's not a tradition you're familiar with, but where I'm from, it's custom to get a gift for someone when it's their birthday." She pushed the present across the table toward him, resisting the urge to glance at Rone and Kelena to see if they approved of the gesture. "So, Happy Birthday, Kolyat."

He blinked, his gaze following the box as it traversed the table. Quinlo resumed his goggling, gaze swinging back and forth between Jasmine, the gift, and Kolyat. She bit her lip, pushing her irritated thoughts about the kid aside to focus on Kolyat instead. Watching as he hesitantly picked up the package, holding it with just the tips of his fingers as if it might sprout fangs and bite, she grinned and fought back a laugh. Glancing up, he met the gaze of everyone at the table before sliding a finger under a folded corner and popping it free. He slipped the paper off the box before sitting it back on the table to lift the lid.

She sucked in a shallow breath, nostrils filling with the smells of braised  _bastial_  and roasted  _naka_ , finding her nervousness absolutely ridiculous. Thane pressed his knee against hers, hidden by the ruby-red, silken tablecloth, and she slid her foot back and around his, tucking her ankle in against him. A slow smile spread across Kolyat's face as he lifted the bracelet from the box, running the smoothed chips of shell through his fingers. Jasmine grinned, sinking into her hard, low-backed chair, the design clearly meant to encourage the exact opposite of her posture as the sides pressed uncomfortably against her back, urging her upright once more.

"Thank you, Jasmine." He looked up, meeting her gaze, giving her a glimpse of excitement dancing in his blue eyes hidden behind the black, outer lense.

"You like it?" She raised her eyebrows.

His grin widened and he dipped his head. "I do, very much so."

"Allow me," Kelena said, holding her hand out to Kolyat. "It is quite lovely."

He gave her the bracelet and held his arm out, letting her fasten it around his wrist. Mumbling a 'thank you' to his aunt, he pulled his hand back, running his fingers over the blue and white shells again, turning the bracelet around on his wrist.

"It is nicer than the one San'hal wears." Quinlo seemed to finally tire of gaping at her, instead he half turned in his chair to examine the bracelet with Kolyat, the light trailing in from the living room behind him falling across his face as he turned, catching on the tans and greens of his scales, making him look a little less … ghoulish.

The statement only seemed to make Kolyat's smile beam even brighter. "It is. He will be quite jealous."

"Kolyat." Kelena made a tutting sound. "We should not be pleased by evoking such emotions in others."

"My apologies, Aunt Kelena." Kolyat schooled his smile and tucked his hands in his lap. "I did not mean to cause offense."

Jasmine didn't know who San'hal was, or why it made Kolyat happy for San'hal in particular to be jealous, but she admitted to herself it only added to her satisfaction. Maybe it made her a bad person, but just then, she didn't care. She glanced at Thane, seeing the corners of his mouth twitch, and she thought maybe he felt the same way when he lifted his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, smile breaking through in the process.

"Jasmine, I hope you have enjoyed your visit so far," Kelena said, drawing Jasmine's attention to her. "We get so few visitors to Kahje."

"I have, yes, thank you. I haven't seen much of the planet, but Enkindler's Pass is quite beautiful." Jasmine smiled. "And I really loved seeing Kalahira's Threshold." The choice to use the drell name as opposed to the hanar name wasn't happenstance, and Jasmine knew she'd won a few more brownie points with the other woman when Kelena's smile widened. "Kolyat acted as an excellent tour guide." She glanced at him, throwing a smile in his direction.

Kelena laughed, the sound soft and musical. "I do hope he was on his best behavior."

"A perfect gentleman." Jasmine's omni-tool vibrated against her wrist and she glanced down, her gut telling her it was the call she'd been both dreading and waiting impatiently for. She fought to keep her expression neutral, returning her gaze to Kelena. "I'm sorry, I need to take this call. Is there somewhere …."

"Yes, of course," Rone spoke up, pushing away from the table. "Please, allow me to show you to the study."

"Thank you." She slid her chair out, glancing at Thane as she stood, hoping her silent apology carried over in her eyes. Taking calls at the dinner table wasn't exactly socially acceptable by human standards, she had no doubt it'd be perceived as rude by the drell at the table, but if she was right, and it was her new handler calling ….

"You are most welcome." Rone waited for her, hands tucked behind his back, face unreadable.

Following Rone out of the dining room and down a hall, she waited while he opened a door and turned on the light for her. He dipped his head, stepping back out of her way and made his way back down the hall. Jasmine stepped inside and closed the door, giving the room a quick once over, taking in shelves stacked with books, small, carved statues of drell and hanar, and holos of Kolyat and Kelena. The desk at the far side of the room, immaculately organized, held only a closed laptop and datapads sandwiched between stone figures, both of the same female drell but while one held a sword, the other cradled an infant. Jasmine thought they must represent the goddess Arashu, based on what Thane told her about his religion. She smiled before turning her back to an empty wall and answering the call.

Isaac's face appeared on the screen, his brown eyes appraising her instantly. "Shepard." He nodded, his shoulders relaxing as if whatever he saw in her put his mind at ease, and he smiled. "Your vacation is agreeing with you. You look good."

"But it's time to come back to work," she said, not as a question or even a complaint, but a simple acknowledgement of why he called.

He smirked. "I already forgot how brusque you can be. Yeah, it's time to come back to work. I've reinstated your alias, Ramona Salazar, and I want you on the Citadel in two days. I trust you can make that happen?"

She sighed and nodded. She knew the time for her to leave grew closer, and she was getting a little restless, but the thought of leaving Thane behind made her chest ache. "I'll be there. Are you sending me a dossier?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. You've been out of commission for awhile, I need to make sure you're up to the task, and it's a good idea for us to get to know each other a little better. I need you to trust me as much as you need me to trust you, and that's not going to happen out of nowhere—for either of us."

"Okay." She pursed her lips. "So … what? We'll be working together at the training facility there?"

Isaac bobbed his head back and forth a little. "Mmmm, something like that." He grinned, a playful cunningness making his eyes sparkle sass, spiking her curiosity and pouring a little water on the seed of fondness he'd planted in her the day they met. "I'll have you a place set up, everything you need. Message me with the name of your ship and ETA, I'll meet you at the docks."

"Alright, I'll make the arrangements tonight." She gave him one quick nod of her head, biting back a 'sir' before it made it's way from her mouth, remembering his distaste for the honorific at the last second.

"Good, I'll see you soon, Shepard." The screen went dark.

Closing her omni-tool she let out a heavy breath, letting her lips flap against each other before leaving the study. She made her way back down the hall, pasting a smile on her face and squaring her shoulders, forcing herself to be vigilant of her body language so no one would know her heart was really breaking. Soft laughter trickled down the hall, and she heard Thane's voice among the mix. Somehow, it helped to ease the pain a little. Everyone glanced up at her as she came back into the room.

She pulled her chair back out and sat down. "I'm so sorry."

"It is quite alright." Kelena smiled at her, the look carrying with it a sense of indulgence. "I hope everything is well."

Jasmine nodded and picked up her water glass. "Yes, it was a work call I've been expecting." She waved her free hand, as if it were of no real importance. "I suppose they wouldn't call it a vacation if it didn't have to come to an end."

"You are leaving?" Shock filled Kolyat's voice, hitting her like the worst kind of accusation, leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

"Kolyat," Rone and Kelena said in unison.

But Kolyat didn't apologize right away, instead, he watched her, a frown pulling at his mouth. She wanted to kick herself. Hard. She should've known he'd be disappointed with such news. It wasn't as if he didn't know her time on Kahje was limited, but still, she'd never given him a specific date of departure, leaving it open for him to extend her stay in his mind. And she knew by the look on his face, he'd done just that.

"I am, but not right this moment. I have to make arrangements tonight." Jasmine swallowed, trying not to let her tone sound too much like she was trying to soothe him, but making her genuine regret heard. "I'm due back in two days."

Kolyat sat his fork down on his mostly empty plate. "Then … I am glad I had the opportunity to meet you, Jasmine. I hope to see you again, someday."

"Me, too, Kolyat." A knot formed in her throat, and for a second, she thought she might cry.

He looked so deflated and on his birthday, even. He should be happy, smiling, and laughing with his family and friend. Instead, she'd just made a stupid, careless mistake and ruined his night. She did hope to see him again, but she knew it was pretty unlikely—not in person, at least. Finding a ship headed to Kahje, let alone one that'd let her aboard, had been near to impossible, and she paid out the ass for the ride. The Illuminated Primacy didn't allow for a lot of incoming traffic, it wouldn't be a place she'd be able to return to often, if at all, especially once she started working again and had limited time between jobs. She couldn't tell him as much, though.

* * *

Thane wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer when Jasmine flung her arms around his neck. Turning his face into her hair, he breathed in and held it, taking solace in the idea of those molecules of grapefruit and papaya scented air becoming a part of him. He'd helped her make arrangements, securing her passage aboard a ship headed to the Ismar Frontier. The ship would dock on Zorya, where she'd board another ship headed to the Citadel. She refused to arrive on a ship departing from Kahje as a precaution—to protect his family—despite the potential for trouble Zorya represented, being the home of the Blue Suns. Still, he trusted her to be careful and knew she was capable of defending herself.

He took in another deep breath, rubbing his face against hers. "We have the rest of the night and all day tomorrow together, where would you like to go? What would you like to do?"

She tucked her head under his chin and sighed. "This."

She sighed again, the sound so sad and wistful it tore at his carefully constructed walls, making his throat spasm with the effort it took to keep himself from begging her to stay. She'd asked him to once, the last time they parted ways, perhaps she'd do the same again, and he'd plead with her not to leave. He wanted her to stay by his side forever. She needn't stop working, if she didn't want to; they could take jobs together and ….

"I just want to spend what time we have left in your arms." She pulled back just enough to meet his gaze and bit her lip. "Okay?"

"That sounds perfect." He lifted a hand to her face, tugging her lip free, and kissed her.

Grinning, her eyebrows lifted, a hopeful spark in her eyes. "Maybe we can just curl up on the couch and watch vids until we're ready for bed?"

He chuckled. "Whatever you like, siha."

"I love you." She pushed up on her toes, chest pressing against his, and kissed him with soft lips on his brow.

The gesture brought another chuckle from him, and he brushed his knuckles along her jaw when she settled back on her heels. "And I you."

"I'm going to drag the blanket over and maybe a couple of pillows." She glanced over her shoulder at the bed before returning to his gaze. "Will you get us something to snack on and some drinks?"

"As you wish." He kissed her again and then let her go, watching for a moment as she moved to the bed before making his way to the kitchen area.

After digging through her cabinets, he felt fairly convinced she'd managed to find and horde every scrap of unhealthy food shipped to Kahje. Three varieties of sliced, deep-fat fried vegetables, sugar covered pastries, chocolates, and a packaged of some sort of dried meat labeled 'beef jerky' with an astonishingly high sodium content. Smiling to himself over her eating habits, and how poorly she had him eating over the last few weeks, he carried everything to the coffee table so she might take her pick.

She flashed him a childlike grin as she scooped up the beef jerky and tore the package open with her teeth, settling back on the couch to kick her shoes off. He laughed and returned to the kitchen area, opening the refrigeration unit to see what she had to drink. He found Tupari in her refrigerator, along with a half bottle of asari wine, and bottled  _elocol._

"Jasmine, what would you like to drink?" He glanced her way to find her holding a strip of the jerky between her teeth while she flipped through a list of vids on the screen.

She pulled the meat from her mouth and looked at him. "Wine, since it's already open. After that, probably  _elocol_. You can take the Tupari to Kolyat … if they let him drink that kind of stuff."

"Unlikely, but perhaps it will interest someone at the rehabilitation center." He retrieved glasses from the cabinet before taking the wine and  _elocol_  back to the table.

She poured them drinks while he took off his jacket and vest, knowing she'd want to rest her head against his bare chest, and wanting to be able to feel her warm skin on his scales. Sitting down next to her, he pulled off his boots, sliding them under the edge of the table before tucking one of the pillows behind him. She handed him a glass of  _elocol_  and snuggled in against his side. She started a vid,  _Horizon's Gamble_ —about an asari explorer adventuring into unchartered territory only to find the local inhabitants aren't as welcoming as she'd hoped, according to the description—and used her omni-tool to dim the lights before pulling the blanket up around them.

As the first asari appeared on screen, Jasmine glanced over at him, a smile spreading over her face when he met her gaze. "This vid has terrible reviews."

"Oh?" He wanted to ask why she chose it, then, but thought it might sound rude.

Her grin widened. "Yep. I'm introducing you to another human tradition." She snuggled in a little closer. "Find a vid with the worst reputation, and then spend the entire time making fun of it."

He laughed, stealing the piece of beef jerky from her hand and ripping some off with his teeth before handing it back to her. The umami teased his tastebuds as he chewed, the salt not as overwhelming as he expected, somehow enhancing the other spices along with the taste of the red meat itself. Whatever animal beef came from, he found it appealing and wondered in what other ways it might be prepared.

He hummed his approval, digging a piece of his own out of the bag when she held it out to him. "And you find this more entertaining than watching a vid you might actually enjoy?"

"Sometimes, yeah." She leaned forward, tossing the bag back to the table and picking up her wine glass.

He arched a brow ridge at her, the corner of his lip lifting in a smirk. "Humans have the most fascinating traditions."

* * *

Jasmine watched his face as he swept her hair back, tucking it behind her ear before tracing the curve of her jaw. She wondered what exactly he saw when he looked at her. Was she really as beautiful to him as he was to her? The soft light filling the room from the bedside lamp caught on his scales and in his eyes, and she saw the strain she felt reflected there. Would it ever get any easier for them, when it came time for one or the other to leave? She hoped the pain was worth the pleasure for him. Without a doubt, it was for her.

"When's your birthday?" she asked, realizing she never knew for sure, but must've missed one since they'd known each other. "Back on the Citadel, when we were talking after I killed the guy in the warehouse, Ryan Archer, you said you'd soon be thirty-three, but I never asked when."

He smiled, but something about it seemed sad as his gaze focused on her eyes. "Ah. By the hanar calendar, my birthday was the forty-third day of the month  _Hinyal_. The day you left for Illium."

She winced, sucking a hissing breath in between her teeth. Apparently ruining birthdays by leaving became her new thing. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It didn't seem relevant," he said with a shrug. "Especially in light of everything else."

Pushing her lower lip out in a pout, she sighed. "It's relevant to me. I would've gotten you something for your birthday. Made you eat more cake."

He chuckled, brushing his thumb over her lip. "You did give me something. You gave me this, us."

Snorting, she rolled her eyes, shaking her head against the pillow. "You're such a hopeless romantic." She reached up, pressing her hand to his face. "Who would've ever guessed one of the galaxy's most deadly men is really a big softy?"

He scoffed, turning his head to kiss her palm. "Is it such a bad thing?"

"Not at all. It's just the last thing I expected when we first met." She caressed his frills, smiling at the soft, throaty hum her touch elicited. "Not what I'm used to in people, I guess."

"How unfortunate." He smirked, leaning in to brush his lips over hers, the heat of his naked body so close made the kiss seem far less chaste. "Or, perhaps, how fortunate for me."

She chuckled, tugging him back to her for another kiss when he started to pull away, letting his lower lip linger between hers for a moment. "Favorite place in the galaxy?"

"This very spot." He grinned when she huffed and then said, "I'm rather fond of Chalkhos."

Brow furrowing, she tried to place the name but came up blank. "Chalkhos?"

"It's an asari planet in the Mil System of Sigurd's Cradle. I went there for a contract, the target a krogan bonded to an asari who ran a research facility. He made enemies in Citadel space and then returned to the Terminus Systems, believing he'd be beyond reach on Chalkhos." He waved his hand, brushing the thought aside. "It's not the planet itself that appeals to me, but the view of its twin planet, Selvos. It's a stunning sight. Almost as beautiful as you." He brought his hand back to her face, caressing her cheekbone. "What's yours?"

"Hmmmm." She pursed her lips as she thought, her mind pulling up location after location before tossing them aside and finally settling on one in particular. "Demeter. You know it?"

"Indeed." He dipped his head, the pillowcase making a susurrate of sound as his scales moved across the material. "Why Demeter?"

She lifted a hand to his face, tracing the grooves where the larger, plate-like scales fused together, trying her best to commit each line to memory. "It's where I went when I left Earth for the first time."

"Ah." Settling a hand on her hip, only the thin blanket separating them, he rubbed up and down over the curve of her hip to waist and back again, pulling a contented sigh from her lips. "Was this for work, or when you were younger?"

"I was ten. My father was from there originally, and we went to Demeter when his father passed away for the funeral." Dropping her hand down to his shoulder, she swept her fingers over the pattern of black stripes running along his arm. "I'd never met my grandfather, so I didn't really feel anything in particular about his death. I remember trying to hide my excitement about going offworld because I didn't want my dad to feel like I didn't care grandpa's death hurt him."

He hummed, shifting his hand to the small of her back, stretching his arm out further and exposing more of his markings to her. "Did he have other family there?"

"Uhh, yeah," she said with a nod, "his uncle. His dad's half-brother. I met him and his family for the first and only time at the funeral."

"Forgive me for prying into an uncomfortable topic," he said, then hesitated, drawing her gaze back to his, "but I don't understand how it is you ended up on your own at such a young age after your parents died if you have family both on Earth and Demeter. Would no one take you in?"

"The first few months after my mother died, they had me in foster homes while they tried to track down my father." She shrugged, turning her attention back to a stripe swooping over his shoulder and down across his chest. "After that, they tried my mother's family in London, but by then my great-aunt and uncle passed away, and their kids moved." She leaned in compelled to kiss the stripe, and pressed her lips to his shoulder. "They were still trying to find my mom's relatives—I guess the agency figured it'd be better for me to stay on Earth with my mother's family than go to Demeter—but they were still looking when I ran away."

He brought his hand back to her face, pushing aside a lock of hair, dislodged when she leaned in to kiss his shoulder. "Have you … have you tried to find them yourself?"

She shook her head. "They're strangers to me, I don't really see the point."

He searched her face, for what she wasn't really certain, before moving his hand back to her hip, pulling her in a little closer to him. "Is there a place you never wish to return?"

She felt fairly certain he wanted to say something entirely different in the moment, but for whatever reason, he chose to keep it to himself. Figuring if it was important, he'd say it sooner or later, she let it go. Just then, she didn't want to pry; she wanted to enjoy the last few, peaceful moments with him, acutely aware she had three hours before she needed to be on her shuttle. "Mmm. I don't know, nothing immediately comes to mind. You?"

"No." He moved his arm, pulling it down beneath the blanket to run his warm, soft hand over her bare skin, moving in lazy circles over her hip and back. "The only place I've ever avoided is Kahje, and now, I feel more at peace here than I have in years. That isn't to say I'm not still troubled by the thoughts of what happened here, but there is love and hope here, too."

She smiled, scooting even closer to him until her abdomen brushed against his. "I'm glad you decided to come back."

"As am I." With one smooth movement, he pulled her flush against him before rolling with her, moving her to her back so he laid atop her, arm and knee supporting some of his weight. He grinned when she giggled and then nipped at her lip. "I'm more glad you decided to join me here."

Bringing her arms up to wrap them around his neck, she lifted her head from the pillow to kiss him, her tongue parting his lips with ease as a desperate rush of need swept over her. It wasn't about wanting sex and chasing an orgasm—she'd had more than her fair share of those over the last month—but Christ, she wanted him inside of her, wanted to feel his heart beating against her chest as he moved within her, arms surrounding her, whispered words of passion in her ear. She wanted to lose herself in him, feel her very soul mingle and dance with his. She wanted … breaking the kiss, she met his gaze. "Make love to me," she whispered, so vulnerable in that moment, voicing her desires any louder might completely unravel her.

Her voice must've betrayed the intensity of her emotions, or maybe he just saw something in her eyes, because she saw the sudden shift in his gaze as nothing less than a mirror reflection of her own needs. He didn't say anything, only brushed his lips over hers, soft and slow, before his tongue found hers in a gentle caress. Lifting her head into the kiss, she ran a hand over the tight muscles of his back and shoulder blade, moving the other down to cradle the side of his head and jaw. Threading his fingers through her hair, he shifted his weight, sliding one of his legs between her thighs. She locked her ankle around his knee, just to be that much closer to him, before tucking one of her arms down between them, maneuvering it under his arm and then wrapping it around his ribs, fingers splaying out over his back.

She turned her face, rubbing her cheek against the top of his forehead, brushing her lips over the first spike of his crest when he dipped his head to leave a scorching, wet trail down her throat with his tongue. Shifting his weight a little, he cupped her breast with his free hand, trapping her nipple between the knuckles of his thumb and forefinger, applying a gentle pressure as he kneaded her breast with palm and fingers. Growing harder against her thigh, his body called out to hers, making her insides twitch and tighten with yearning.

Using his knee, he spread her legs wider, bringing his other leg over to join the first, giving her the space to wrap herself around him further. She held him close, hands skirting over frills and scales, muscles rolling beneath her fingers with his every movement, ankles hooked behind his knees. He moved a little lower, lips, tongue, and teeth taking in everything within reach. She gasped when his mouth closed over her nipple, his tongue twirling over the sensitive bud. His hand kneaded along her side, gently squeezing handfuls of hip and thigh, reaching under her bent leg to cup her ass before trailing his hand back up her leg and over her knee to take his time making his way back to her hip.

Releasing her breast, he shifted on the bed, licking, kissing, nipping his way lower. She knew he intended to bury his face between her legs, use his tongue and his fingers to make her orgasm; she knew he enjoyed that as much as she did, but it wasn't what she wanted. As intimate a gesture as it was, oral sex held a particular  _distance_ she didn't think she could stand just then, not when she only wanted to feel  _closer_ , as close as possible.

Tugging at his crest, she urged him back up to her, claiming his mouth with her own once more. She lifted her hips to meet his, pressing herself against him, a silent plea, begging him not to make her wait any longer. He moaned in her mouth, hand tightening in her hair as she rocked her hips, leaving him slick with her wetness. Reaching between them, she took him in hand, stroking his length before guiding him to her opening.

She broke the kiss, holding her breath and tilting her head back, her whole body shuddering as he eased himself inside. Tears given life by her overwhelming bliss pooled in her eyes, and she blinked, letting them roll down over her temples. Brushing his lips over the tear tracks, first one side and then the other, he slid his arms under her, cradling her as he moved against her, filling her completely. She clung to him with the sort of desperation that ought to frighten her, but instead only made her hungry for more of him, all of him.

"I love you." The words rushed out of her, broken and ragged, cracking in her drying throat as she sucked in deep lungfuls of air. And then, as if saying it once wasn't enough, she said it again, and again, feeling every bit as if she chanted a prayer only God might hear.

But Thane heard her, too, returning each muttered devotion with his own, his words whispered in her ear and across her skin. "I love you, Jasmine. I am yours, my beautiful siha. Always, I love you."


	10. Soul of Fire

**Soul of Fire**

Isaac leaned against the railing, a splash of burgundy in a sea of bland colors, looking out at the ships moving in and out of the docking bays. She watched him through the crowd, the scents of a thousand different perfumes and the sounds of countless voices overwhelming her senses, an avalanche of stimuli after the quiet, calm of Kahje. She realized a part of her missed the energy of so much activity, but a much larger part missed the stillness of waking up in Thane's arms. It took only a second before Isaac glanced up, meeting her gaze, but then he turned his attention back out to the air traffic. Smirking, she made her way through the throng of people coming and going and stopped a meter away. He turned his head to look at Jasmine when she set her bags down, and she turned to lean back against the railing.

"You ready to get to work?" He flipped around, mirroring her posture.

"Where do we start?" Her gaze roamed the length of the long-limbed man standing next to her, taking in his rather conspicuous, wine-colored suit. The lapels were wide and flashy, and a crisp, white shirt showed underneath, contrasting nicely against his dark complexion. "You always dress like that?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong with how I dress?" He pushed off the railing, hands raised to the side, and tucked his elbows in against him as he spun. Stopping, he pinched the lapels between thumb and forefinger, sliding his fingers down and then off the edge of the fabric with a flick of his wrist. "I look good."

She laughed, letting her head loll back on her shoulders before turning her attention back to him, finding him grinning. "What?"

"Nothing." He reached out, gripping the rail with one hand, his stance tilted as he leaned his weight to the side, one ankle crossed over the other. Tucking his other hand into his pants pocket, he shrugged. "Just wasn't sure if you were capable of laughter."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "We met once. For like five minutes. You don't know me."

"You're right, I don't." He pushed away from the railing again, opening his omni-tool. "That's why we're here. I'm sending you some information you'll need on the Citadel, you can look over it later, and your omni-tool will now register as belonging to Ramona Salazar." Closing the omni-tool, he gestured at her bags. "May I?" He picked up the larger of her bags when she nodded—the one carrying her gun case, among other things—and slung it over his shoulder. "I've already set you up with an apartment. I'll be next door."

Jasmine pursed her lips. She didn't know how she felt about him taking the liberty to rent her an apartment. she liked to find her own places, check the building out before deciding. She picked up the other bag, holding it out to him. "Trade me."

He glanced down at the bag before meeting her gaze again, giving her a knowing look. "You know, this trust thing has to start somewhere." But he slid the bag from his shoulder, making the switch with her.

She turned her gaze to the bag, pulling the strap up over her shoulder before grazing the canvas with her fingertips, an almost loving stroke. She knew he thought her reluctance revolved around letting someone else carry her rifle—the weight of the bag and how it shifted would've been obvious to him the second he picked it up if he was as good as she thought—but the rifle only counted for half her reasons. The other half laid in the straw colored shirt snuggled in next to her sniper rifle's case. Thane's shirt. She'd secreted it away the morning she left, leaving her panties in its place, tucked inside his overnight bag.

She shrugged and offered Isaac an apologetic smile. "Yeah, just … maybe not there."

* * *

Jasmine stepped into the apartment, acutely aware of the man standing behind her. A deadly man she knew she needed to learn to trust, but after Leon …. "Come in, if you want." She made her way into the living room, dropping her bag on the couch before turning to watch him cross the threshold.

He tugged the bag from his shoulder and glanced around. "Where do you want this?"

She waved at the overstuffed cushion of the couch before wandering through the apartment. Far nicer than the ones she normally rented for herself, it came with a full kitchen and dining area, a large bedroom with a master bath, and a smaller guest room—all furnished, of course. Paintings decorated the walls, metal filagree lined the trim on the walls and around the fireplace. She'd seen the Tiberius Towers before, but she'd never been inside. Surprisingly, her work rarely brought her to the flash and dazzle of Silversun Strip.

_He better not expect me to pay for this place._

Isaac stood next to the couch, watching her as she moved from room to room. "I've already swept for cameras and listening devices, but I'm guessing you'll want to do it again anyway."

"Well, I wanted to be polite and not do it in front of you, but …." She pursed her lips, opening her omni-tool and activating her Alliance regulation espionage detection system.

He chuckled, giving his head a little shake. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Go ahead." She walked over to the couch, scooping up her bags to clear the way, and then headed back to her new bedroom, running the scanner as she went. After setting the bags on the bed, she took her time going over every centimeter, including the master bath, and closet. "This place is pretty nice," she called out, turning off the lights as she left the room and headed down the hall to the guest bedroom.

"Glad you think so, it's home for the next few weeks."

"Few weeks?" She opened the closet for the guest bedroom, running her omni-tool through the empty space. "Leon had me change places every couple of weeks at the most."

"I'm not Leon," Isaac said, his voice coming from far closer than she expected.

She glanced over her shoulder, not nearly as startled by his sudden presence in the doorway after having spent a month with Thane around the clock, but still it made her hackles rise. "No. No, you're not." She closed the closet, making her way around the room, scanning the furniture and walls, casting the occasional glance his way. "Did you know him?"

"I met him once. Good looking white boy, muscles for days, and mmm, those eyes of his." He chuckled. "I can see why you went for him."

Turning to face him, a smirk settled over her face, and she raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't bad in bed, either. But he was an asshole, through and through." She swallowed against the sudden knot in her throat and turned away, continuing her scan of the room. "He was there, though, when I needed him."

"Shepard." He paused, until she looked at him. "What you did … you made the right choice. Now, I know that doesn't make it any easier, but you've got to figure out how to let it go. Let him go."

She closed her omni-tool. "I'll finish the sweep later. I'm hungry, so unless you've stocked the fridge, too …."

He smiled, holding his palms up and out toward her in surrender. "Alright. Alright, we don't start there, either. So you tell me, then. Where  _do_ we start?"

" _Le Bleu_ ," she said with a shrug.

" _Le Bleu_?" His eyebrows dipped before arching in understanding. "The dive in the Bachjret Ward?"

Jasmine smirked, raising an eyebrow of her own. "Watch yourself, those are fightin' words."

He laughed, the sound full-bodied and rich, bringing a lazy smile to her face. "That so?"

A part of her was afraid to admit it, but he really did seem like a nice guy. She felt grateful toward the man for getting her out of her cell back on Earth, but she didn't want it to cloud her judgement, either. She remembered a time, before all the shit with Leon, she wouldn't have thought twice about it. They assigned him as her handler and it would've been good enough for her. Since Leon … well, she guessed she'd figure out soon enough whether or not Isaac could be trusted.

"Yep." She crossed her arms over her chest, resting her weight on one hip. "I've given them enough credits, I could probably get a discount if I asked."

He bobbed his head, the same little dance to a tune only he heard just as he did when they first met. "Alright,  _Le Bleu_  it is."

She pointed at him from beneath her crossed arms. "You're buying."

"I'm buying," he said with a nod.

"Good." Grinning, she moved toward him and the door. "Let's go, bossman."

* * *

Jasmine picked up a fry, pausing with it halfway to her mouth. "Where are you from?" Her stomach grumbled as she caught a whiff of the fried delight, taste buds longing for something greasy and fattening after her time spent on Kahje. She popped it in her mouth, fighting back the urge to moan as the salt and oil hit her tongue.

"Earth—Seattle." He cut into his steak. "You?"

She finished chewing, buying herself time to study his face, trying to ferret out whether or not he meant to toy with her. "You didn't read my file?"

"No, I prefer to get to know you in person." He met her gaze and lifted a shoulder, letting it drop again before bringing his fork to his mouth. "I might read it later, if I feel there's a need." Putting the steak in his mouth, he chewed twice before the corners of his mouth turned down and he nodded. "Not bad."

As far as she could tell, he told the truth, but then again, if she saw any sign of a lie, he'd be crap at his job. "I was born on Earth, spent the first part of my childhood in Corpus Christi, the last bit in Santa Fe."

He swallowed, chasing it with a drink of iced tea. "Yeah?" Turning his attention back to his plate, he cut another piece. "Where'd you like living better?"

She shrugged, unwilling to examine her opinion on the subject too closely. "I spent most of my time in Santa Fe on the streets."

_But I found my mother dead in a puddle of her own blood in Corpus Christi. Both places were shit._

Isaac paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. "How'd that happen?"

She stalled, shoving another fry in her mouth, chewing and swallowing it before answering. "Parents died when I was young. Didn't like the foster system." She shrugged again, hoping the simple answer might be enough for him. "So I left."

"Damn. Must've been rough." He stuck his fork in his mouth, watching her with a thoughtful expression as he ate. "So, how does one go from living on the streets in Santa Fe to being a Phantom?"

She sucked in a deep breath, shoulders lifting as her ribs expanded. "Some idiots decided to try and force me into their skycar a few blocks away from an Alliance recruiting office. One of the men who worked there came to help me." She fell silent a moment, gaze staring at nothing in particular as she remembered the empty look to the man's eyes, blood trickling out of the hole in his head. The man Geoffrey shot; the man she still thought of only as 'The Yankee'. "He ended up taking me in … I guess enlisting seemed like the best option when I turned eighteen."

"He adopted you?" Isaac studied her when she met his gaze again.

"No," she said, shaking her head and picking at her plate, forcing her guard down a little further. "I was seventeen and already emancipated by then. He just … let me stay with him and his family."

"Sounds like a good man."

Smiling, she picked up a french fry. "He is." Folding the fry in two, she pushed it in her mouth.

"You stay in touch with him?"

"Yep." Jasmine took a drink of her iced tea, meeting his gaze, letting the silence linger. She watched him for a moment as he dug into the baked, orange-skinned tuber—likely the same thing her fries were made from—slathered in butter, sour cream, and chives, or at least something very similar to those things. "What about your family?"

"They're still around, in Seattle. I can't say I talk to them very much, but every so often I like to surprise my mom for Christmas." He smiled and turned his attention back to his plate, waving his fork before starting to cut at his steak again. "Show up on her doorstep and demand she feed me."

She chuckled and nodded. "Sounds about right. I check in on the people who took me in from time to time. I'm usually ushered straight to the table." She hesitated a moment before adding, "I stopped by there first when you had me released."

He bobbed his head, stuffing another bite into his mouth. If he already knew she'd spent time at Geoffrey's, he gave no sign. "They doing good?"

"Yeah, yeah, they are." She smiled, thinking of Rift and how well he'd adjusted to his new family. She cleared her throat, shifting around in her chair. "So, Isaac what?"

"Winter." He glanced up, gaze suddenly serious but not unkind. "But from now on, while we're here and in public, you'll only call me Raymond Johnson, even when there's no one in earshot."

She scraped her teeth over her lip, filing away the boundary he just marked for later reference and nodded. "How about just Ray?"

He smirked, holding her gaze. "If it makes you happy." He took a sip from his glass. "Who does Ramona Salazar know on the Citadel?"

She blew out a slow breath, letting it puff out her cheeks. "Service Chief Mark Denver, Gunnery Chief Daniel Cornerstone, and Gunnery Chief Sarah Patel along with a handful of others—I can't recall their names off the top of my head—from the Alliance training facility. Private Mike Rawlins, he runs the front desk sometimes and has a thing for Ramona, or at least he did before I left." She shook her head when he raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "An asari waitress at Chora's Den named Faline. A few store and restaurant employees. That's about it." It wasn't entirely true, but she certainly held no desire to explain why she knew people who worked at the hanar clinic.

He pointed at her with his fork. "And who do  _you_  know on the Citadel?"

She watched him for a moment. "Just a few of the street kids. They know my name, and they know I'm Alliance, but they don't know what I do."

He raised an eyebrow. "No one else?"

"I don't think so." She shrugged, tilting her head toward her shoulder, giving herself an out. "The Citadel's a big place, people come and go all the time …."

"Fair enough." The twitch of the corner of his eye told her that he knew there she held something back, but he didn't push. "I'm going to introduce you to a couple of contacts I have here. You should start making your own."

She frowned, leaning back in her chair. "I—Leon discouraged me from making contacts outside of the Alliance."

Isaac cocked an eyebrow. "I'm  _not_  Leon." He held her gaze until she nodded, then turned his attention back to his plate. "The Alliance won't always have what you need when you need it."

* * *

Thane sat forward in his chair, palms wrapped around a warm cup of  _cinuela_. He watched Kolyat as the boy studied the black and white, spiral pattern of the  _treala_  board. Kolyat turned the polished, blue stone over in his fingers before placing it within his uncle's territory—a poor move, by Thane's understanding of the asari game. Rone hummed, picking up his own stone, taking the opening Kolyat gave him, and placed his marker near the center of the spiral—two moves away from winning.

Kolyat groaned, earning him a chuckle from both men. "I concede. It is nearly time for bed anyway." He pushed his chair out from the table and stood, turning to look at Thane. "I would like to see you tomorrow, after school, Father."

Setting his cup on the table, Thane stood and opened his arms to his son. "If I am feeling well enough after my treatment, and your uncle and aunt permit, perhaps we can go to dinner together, just the two of us." He pulled Kolyat to him when the boy stepped into his embrace. Kissing the top of Kolyat's head, he smiled at the soft grumble of rebuke.

"So long as he is home in time to complete his lessons, I see no problem with this." Rone began collecting the pieces of the  _treala_  game and putting them away in the case. "I am sure Kelena will have no complaint, either."

Rone glanced down the hall toward his room where his wife retreated shortly after dinner, saying she wanted to relax and read for awhile before bed. Thane understood the worry passing over his brother's face, when Irikah was pregnant with Kolyat, she grew tired so easily. She'd chased him out of their room more than once when he fretted over her, telling him she was pregnant, not dying, and to leave her alone. He thought about sharing this with Rone, but he had a feeling Rone understood perfectly well his wife's condition was normal, it just did little to soothe the concern.

Kolyat pulled away and dipped his head to Rone. "Thank you, Uncle." Turning back to Thane, he smiled. "Goodnight, Father."

"Goodnight, my son. Sleep well." Thane patted Kolyat's shoulder before picking up his cup. He swallowed the rest of his  _cinuela_  before taking the empty cup to the kitchen. On his way back to the dining room, he tucked his hands behind his back, prepared to tell Rone goodbye and take his leave, but Rone stopped him with a weighted glance.

"It would please me if you would stay a moment longer, Brother. I wish to speak with you." Rone turned, setting the  _treala_  box on the shelf behind the table.

"As you wish." Thane glanced over his shoulder, seeing Kolyat step into his bedroom, the door closing behind him. Resting his hands on the back of a chair, Thane watched Rone, waiting to see if he'd be asked to sit again.

Turning back around, Rone waved at the chair before sitting himself. "Thank you." He waited for Thane to sit and meet his gaze again before saying, "I trust your treatments are going well."

"Indeed. I suspect I will be finished within the next two or three weeks." Thane hesitated, unsure of the conversation's direction. "They have yet to give me a more specific date."

_Things are going well, surely he isn't in a hurry for me to leave Kahje?_

"I am pleased to hear your health is improving." Rone smiled, waving a hand in Thane's direction. "I suspect you are eager to return to your … work. I wonder if you will be spending time with your friend again once your treatments end."

Thane dipped his head, unease spreading through him, tightening the muscles along his spine despite Rone's smile. Something about the atmosphere, the particular way Rone led the conversation, made Thane feel as if something unpleasant waited around the corner. "It is my intention to spend as much time with her as possible, yes."

"Though he spent little time with her, Kolyat seems to have grown rather attached." Rone cleared his throat. "I have yet to see him take to anyone so swiftly as he did with Jasmine. I admit this troubles me." He tilted his head to the side, as if considering his next words carefully, or perhaps deciding on whether or not to speak them at all. "He spent the evening sulking after the two of you left, and he awoke in the night, screaming loud enough to wake Kelena and I. When I checked on him, he would only say it was a bad dream and apologized for disturbing us."

Rone fell quiet, looking down at his cup still on the table. Thane knew Rone needed to say something more, so he remained still and silent, focusing on keeping his breathing steady and his heart from racing. He didn't see how Jasmine leaving might cause Kolyat nightmares, sulking yes, but nightmares? It seemed apparent Rone believed it to be true, however. Fear for what it might mean for his relationship with Jasmine and with his son wrapped a fist around his throat.

"They stopped completely before you called the first time, but he had a few more before you came to Kahje." Rone returned his gaze to Thane. "This is the first he has had since the first day he saw you in the hospital, and together, you began to heal old wounds. I cannot swear the two things are connected, but it does seem to me they are."

Thane dropped his gaze to the table, throat spasming in uncertainty. He thought Jasmine and Kolyat knowing one another was a good thing, he  _needed_  it to be a good thing. He loved them both dearly, it'd tear him apart if he'd hurt Kolyat by introducing Jasmine into his life. "I—I don't know what to say. What would you ask of me, Brother?"

_Arashu, give me strength._

"I would ask nothing of you. I only thought you should know." Rone folded his hands together on the table when Thane met his gaze again. "He has endured many loses, and he knows you will not long be with us. Perhaps it is simply because Jasmine's leaving reminded him of this—reminded him of what he has already lost."

Thane shifted, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table and clasp his hands. The thudding of his heart against his sternum beginning to ease, the fingers of dread gripping his throat loosening. "He will not lose me again; I will call as often as I can and visit from time to time. The doctors say I will need to return for more treatments in the future, but I will come more often, if I'm able." He hesitated, weighing the thought out in his mind before giving it voice. "If he desires and you are amendable to the idea, I am sure Jasmine would be willing to stay in contact with him as well. He needn't feel as if he's lost her, either."

Rone dropped his gaze to his hands, and the silence stretched for nearly a minute. Finally, he looked up again. "You said she would die herself before allowing harm to come to any child. You named her a siha." Rone hummed, holding Thane's gaze, unblinking. "I pray you have judged her accurately … perhaps, if she is willing … I believe Kolyat would greatly enjoy her continued company."

Smiling, Thane dipped his head to his brother, relief and hope spreading through him. "Indeed."

"It would please me to know more, if you care to speak of her." Rone waved a hand. "Of course, I would not ask you to betray her confidence, but perhaps there are some things you might share." He smiled, seeming to relax a little, too. "Tell me, Brother, about this human who has claimed your heart."

Thane chuckled, glancing back down the hall at Kolyat's closed bedroom door. "Jasmine is … brave and cunning, stubborn and forgiving, fierce and gentle. She is …" He touched his knuckles to his lips and took a deep breath, grabbing ahold of the memory before it carried him away. "... I'd been injured—stabbed while walking the Citadel at night, trying to clear my mind of my own nightmares and dark thoughts."

Rone let out something suspiciously close to a gasp. "Arashu be praised, you lived."

Thane took another deep breath, offering his brother a wry smile. "I didn't  _want_  to live, and I very nearly died." He ignored Rone's hiss of disapproval. "As I lay dying, some of the drala'fa found me. One of my most trusted rushed to Jasmine for help, knowing I wouldn't want him to go to C-Sec. He brought her back to me while one of the other drala'fa, and asari child, attempted to stop the flow of blood. My mind slipped in and out of consciousness, my grasp on reality tenuous at best." He spread his hands before bringing them back together again. "I welcomed death, prayed for Kalahira to carry me across the sea, but Jasmine refused to allow it, even when I begged her to leave me be. It only angered her."

"I like to think of myself as a patient and understanding man," Rone said, cocking his head to the side, "but I must admit I believe I would have been angered, too."

"Indeed." Thane lowered his gaze, staring down the length of his arm. "My mind was very troubled that night, but I assure you, I'm overjoyed Kalahira didn't yet want me."

"I am curious to know what happened next." Rone dipped his head when Thane met his gaze again, encouraging Thane to continue.

"Jasmine stopped my bleeding and took me to the hanar. She stayed there with me, watching over me until I awoke. She didn't know who attacked me and worried they might come for me again. It was only a stranger, though—a man I stopped from doing harm to an asari in an alley. If not for the things haunting my mind that night, he never would've …." Thane waved his hand, refocusing his thoughts. "When the doctors and nurses fought to keep me in the hospital, she offered to return with me to my apartment and take care of me for a few days. They agreed, and she took me home. I didn't expect her to actually stay; I thought she made the offer only to placate the doctors, as a favor to me, but she insisted she intended to be there so long as I allowed."

He smiled, remembering his shock and fluster when he realized she meant to stay with him, and his hope it might mean she felt something more for him. "I would've managed without her there, but I couldn't tell her to leave, not when the idea of having her so close …. The next day I told her about Irikah's death, and she held me while I cried, shed her own tears as she shared in my grief. Then, I told her about the decision to leave Kolyat with you, told her I thought it safer for him." Letting out a bemused chuff of air as he shook his head. "She was  _furious_  with me. She raised her voice, slammed her hands on the table, paced the floor like a caged animal. She questioned me, challenged my logic, and then she left, despite my wounded state. I thought I'd lost her forever; she wasn't yet mine to lose, but my heart already belonged to her. I wouldn't have ever told her otherwise."

Rone blinked and leaned closer to Thane, understanding filling his eyes. "She convinced you of the error of your ways; this is why you called me."

"Indeed." Thane nodded. "I felt so foolish and ashamed, ignorant and selfish. She wasn't gone long before I called you."

"She has my gratitude," Rone said, dipping his head.

"Mine as well. She returned later the same night and apologized for speaking to me as she did. I told her she had nothing to apologize for, she'd spoken the truth." Thane grinned. "She said, 'Of course I'm right. Never said I was wrong, it just wasn't my place to say it, and I didn't need to be so harsh.'"

Rone chuckled. "She has a soul of fire."

"Very much so." Thane smiled, pleased by Rone's responses. "When I told her I'd reached out to you, the joy in her eyes left me breathless."

* * *

Thane stood in the middle of his floor, stretching out the pleasant burn of well-worked muscles when his omni-tool vibrated against his wrist. Opening it, he grinned, seeing the call came from Jasmine. He accepted the call, letting his gaze roam over her, drinking in the curves and planes of her face like the first mouthfuls of fresh water after a long day surrounded by nothing but sea.

Rainforest eyes shining in the light, she smiled, settling back against her pillows. "Hi."

"Hello." He wished he could wrap his arms around her, pull her into him, taste her lips. "I didn't think I'd hear from you again so soon."

She shrugged, the opening of his shirt she wore slouching down off her shoulder, exposing a spanse of smooth skin, nearly glowing in the soft light. "The new guy isn't so bad. He's not intrusive, put me in my own apartment." She tilted her head to the side a little. "He's next door, though." Her gaze trailed over him as he settled into a chair, a familiar heat creeping into her eyes. She hummed, her voice taking on a sultry purr as she said, "You're not wearing a shirt."

He chuckled. "Indeed, you appear to have taken it with you. An honest mistake, I'm sure."

She grinned, lifting the hem of the shirt to hold it to her face, breathing deeply. "Mhmm. It still smells like you." Mischief twitched the corner of her lip. "I think I may have left something that smells like me."

Heat rushed to his frills, remembering the delicate, lace undergarment he'd found tucked away with his things. He coughed, a light, strangled sound that brought a devious snicker from Jasmine. "Indeed, you did."

She smirked, the twinkle in her eyes growing. "But you're not wearing it, are you?"

"No," he said with an exasperated huff, shaking his head, the heat burning his face. "I am not."

Her smile faded, the playful spark fading from her eyes, voice softening as she said, "I miss you already."

Letting out a soft sigh, he closed his eyes, allowing himself feel her touch through memory alone for just a second. "And I you, siha."

"It's morning there now, isn't it?"

"It is." He opened his eyes again. "I must leave soon for my treatment, but I have time to talk. In fact, there's something I wish to speak with you about."

She squirmed in her bed, sitting up a little higher, shoving the pillows behind her back. "What's up?"

"It would seem Kolyat is …" He hesitated, not really wanting to tell her of Kolyat's nightmares. He knew if she thought as Rone did, she would be miserable, tearing herself up with blame. "... he misses you as well. I will see him this evening, and I hoped to be able to tell him you will call him. I've already spoken to his uncle, and Rone will speak to his wife. I believe it will do him some good, if you are willing to keep in contact with him, call him from time to time."

Her eyebrows twitched, but her smile returned. "Sure, I'd love to."

"Thank you, this pleases me to hear." He leaned back in his chair, feeling certain he'd made the right decision by asking her to stay a part of his son's life. "So tell me, how are things with you? Your new handler, does he treat you fairly?"

"Yeah, he's been good so far." She snorted, smiling wider. "He did give me a month with you."

"Indeed." He grinned, finding her mood infectious. "I owe him my gratitude."

"He thinks I did the right thing when I killed Leon." She let out a weary sigh, but her smile held. "Maybe the only person in the whole organization who does."

Thane hummed. "Do you trust him?"

Pursing her lips, she shook her head. "Not yet."

"Indeed." He knew it'd be difficult for her to trust her new handler. Thane hoped the man proved worthy of her trust, and she'd learn to give it to him. Afterall, her handler would be responsible for her life.

She held a hand out, palm up and shrugged. "He did buy me dinner at  _Le Bleu_."

Thane chuckled, teasing her when he asked, "Should I be concerned?"

Snorting, she shook her head. "I'm not his type."

He raised a brow ridge, sweeping his gaze over every bit of her the camera showed him. "Then he is blind."

She laughed, the sound filling his heart with joy. "He's not blind, just gay. Either way, I only want you."

"I'm yours, siha, for as long as you'll have me." His hand twitched, wanting desperately to run his fingers along her frill-less jaw and bury them in her hair.

"Good." She lifted her chin, smile smoothing the edges of the defiant gesture. "I don't plan on letting go of you anytime soon."

He laughed, raising his brow ridge again. "I hope you don't  _plan_  on letting go of me at all."

"Indeed." She grinned and then yawned. "I need to get some sleep. I think I'll be getting my ass kicked early in the morning."

"I'm sure you won't make it easy." He smiled, dipping his head to her. "Goodnight, siha. I love you."

"Have a good day." She brought her hand to her mouth, kissing the tips of her fingers before turning her hand to him. "I love you, too."


	11. Adjustments

**Adjustments**

Isaac knocked on her door at way-too-fucking-early o'clock in the morning, gun case in hand, and told her to wear something giving her full range of motion. For a second, the briefest of moments, she thought about taking a swing at him and then going back to bed. If killing Leon hadn't been a career-ender, then surely punching her new handler in the nose wouldn't get her fired. Seriously, who was awake, dressed, and chipper when sane people were enjoying their deepest sleep cycles? In the end, she just narrowed her eyes at him and walked away from the door, letting him decide on whether or not to follow her inside. She took her time showering and getting dressed, and when she came out she found him waiting patiently on her couch, scrolling through something on his omni-tool.

He glanced up at her, then back at his omni-tool. "Forty-five minutes. I'll give you half as long tomorrow." He smiled at her when she huffed. "Not a morning person, Shepard?"

"Not especially, but I'm still a little jet-lagged, too." She yawned and stretched her arms out over her head to emphasize her point. "Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, but I'll take a cup of coffee if you bought any." He stood, following her to the kitchen. "Did you look over the information I sent you?"

She opened the cabinet and pulled out the bag of coffee she got while grocery shopping the night before. "Yep, new Phantom identification, safe-house locations—those would've been really nice to know about before—and new agency doctors on the Citadel."

"The safe-houses aren't Alliance, they're mine. I personally own and maintain them." He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, crossing his arms and one ankle over the other. He found a way to make even training clothing look suave, complete with perfectly unscuffed sneakers, apparently brand new. "I extend the use of them to all Phantoms assigned to me."

"Why do I get the feeling the Alliance pays you  _way_  more than they do me?" She measured out the coffee, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

Isaac smirked. "Because they do. But, not all of my income comes from the Alliance, either."

"Yeah?" She put the coffee away and took the carafe to the sink. "Do a little moonlighting?"

Laughing, he shook his head. "Investments. I come from old money."

"Uh huh." Turning on the water, she filled the pot, watching him from the corner of her eye, reassessing her new handler. They came from totally different backgrounds; even before her parents split and died, leaving her to the streets, they were a far cry from wealthy. What were the chances he'd understand anything about who she was? "What kind of investments?"

"Eezo, platinum, Synthetic Insights." He shrugged, as if being well-off and having money to spread around in investments didn't mean anything special. "A few other places."

She snorted, turning off the water and returning to the coffee maker to finish the task. "That's not vague and ominous or anything." She couldn't be mad at him for having more than her, wasn't his fault her childhood turned out like crap. Besides, the Alliance paid her well enough; she didn't have room to complain.

He laughed and pushed away from the wall. "I tell you what, you survive what I have in store for you today, and I'll send you a copy of my investment portfolio."

"Nope, not at all vague and ominous," she said, holding his gaze for a moment. "So … what are we doing today?" She started the coffee and turned to the refrigerator, opting for  _risat_  and yogurt.

"Armax Arsenal Arena."

She pulled out a cutting board and a knife, setting to work slicing the  _risat_. "The place across the way?" She glanced at him, seeing his gaze fixed on the melon. Pointing at it with her knife, she raised an eyebrow. "Want some?"

He tilted his head, moving a little closer to her and the counter. "What is it?"

" _Risat_. It's from Sur'Kesh." She speared a piece with the knife and held it out to him, waiting to see if the man so big on trust dared to close the distance, putting him within striking distance while she held a weapon, and take the offering. Did the symbolism even mean anything to him?

Plucking the  _risat_  from the knife, Isaac met her gaze, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a knowing smile. He sniffed the fruit before putting it in his mouth, taking his time chewing. Humming his approval, he nodded his head at the cutting board, and she pulled down another plate. "Yeah, the place right across from us. You've never been there?"

"Nope." Satisfied for the moment, she turned her attention back to the task at hand, cutting up the rest of the fruit and sliding it from the cutting board and onto the plates. "It's a combat simulator, yeah? As in multiple, armed enemies on a simulated battlefield?"

"Exactly."

Glancing over her shoulder, she arched an eyebrow. "As in, not exactly something I'm trained for."

He grinned, turning to search through the cabinets when the coffee maker stopped. "It will be when I'm done with you." He pulled down two mugs and filled them with coffee. "You need to be able to adapt to any situation, it's something I've been telling the higher-ups for awhile now. We should be giving all of you a full range of training. They're not really listening, but for now, you're mine to train as I see fit."

"Should I be scared?" She dumped the prep dishes in the sink, and grabbed a spoon out of the drawer. Setting the yogurt container on her plate, she picked up both plates and nodded her head toward the dining room.

He laughed and shook his head, carrying the cups over to the table. "Nah. It's got different difficulty levels, and although if you get hit it'll feel real, you won't actually be injured. I scheduled us some private time, which is a part of why I have you up so early. We need to be there within the hour or we'll lose our slot."

"So no one but you will see me get my ass kicked?" She put the plates on the table and pulled out her chair.

Taking a drink of his coffee, he moved around to the other side. "That's the idea."

* * *

Watching Isaac as he input his login information, Jasmine's eyes widened when the nickname 'BioticBabe' popped up on the screen. Her brain stuttered before stalling out, leaving her completely without thought for a second. "BioticBabe?"

_As in the complete idiot on_ 'Assassins Unveiled' _? No. Can't be._

He glanced over his shoulder and flashed her a smile before stepping away from the console. Holding out his hand, blue flames flared to life over his palm, and he cocked an eyebrow at her, letting the biotics fizzle away once more. "Don't hate." His smile widened as she stared at him, speechless. "What? You don't think I'm a 'babe?'"

She snorted, using the moment to compose herself. "Definitely." Moving to stand in front of the console he'd vacated, she used the login information he gave her for Ramona Salazar. "I've spent every night since we've met lamenting the fact you're gay because you're just such a babe." Grinning at his laugh, she stared at the flashing cursor, waiting for her to input her nickname.

_What the hell? I can always create a new one for the website if I need to._

Jasmine sucked in a deep breath and typed in 'TellMeNow360'. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she watched him for any sign of recognition. He tilted his head to the side, glancing between the screen and her, pursing his lips.

"I'll be damned." He leaned down and picked up his gun case. "Was that a little trust you just extended to me, Salazar?"

"Maybe," she said, picking up her rifle case, too.

"Aww, you do like me." He smirked and gave her a little shake of his head. "But I'm still gay."

She laughed, rolling her eyes and bumping the edge of her gun case against his leg. "Shut up."

"You're alright, Salazar." He gestured at a staircase in the middle of the room. "Ready for this?"

"I guess," she said with a one-shoulder shrug.

"Alright, so what we're going to do is start small. Six opponents without armor, but they'll have the same weapons we have." He started walking as he talked, gaze shifting back and forth from her to the staircase ahead of them. "For now, I want you to focus on taking them out without getting shot yourself. Later, I'll add point deductions for various things like being seen and being hit. I can add bonuses, too, for things like stealth kills and headshots. We won't be using live ammo, of course, but it won't be unlimited, either." Stopping just before they reached the stairs, he turned to face her fully. "There will be crates distributed throughout the field if you need more, but getting to them might leave you out in the open so take your shots wisely."

She hummed her acknowledgement and scraped her teeth over her lip as she thought. "Will my tactical cloak work?"

"It will," he said with a bob of his head.

Nodding, she took a deep breath. "Anything else I should know?"

"Mmm. Watch for the spawn points. When we first get in there, it'll just be us. When the simulator is about to introduce the opponents, you'll see these orange …" He shifted his weight back on one leg and waved a hand in circles. "... it almost looks like fire. The opponents will spawn from those points, but you'll have a few seconds to move away from them if you're too close. They'll come from a different location each round, but you'll always see where they're coming from before they show up."

Forcing a smile on her face, trying to prepare herself for getting her ass kicked, she jerked her head toward the stairs. "Alright, let's go."

Isaac led her past a barrier proclaiming 'athletes only' and down the stairs. Funny, she'd never considered herself an 'athlete'. He stopped at another console, the screen on the wall behind it showing a list of top scores. Someone using the name 'Arterius' held the highest slot with a score of four thousand and six. She'd heard the name before, assuming it was the same person, it looked like the Council's top Spectre was a fan of simulated combat.

Activating the console, Isaac began flipping through the screens, selecting the battleground, enemies, and other variables. "How lucky are you feeling?"

She scoffed. "Not especially … why?"

"We can get bonus points if we don't include Medi-gel," he said, not bothering to look at her.

Jasmine switched her gun case to her other hand and narrowed her eyes, staring at the back of the man's head. "I thought you said the injuries aren't going to be real?"

"They aren't, but I also said they'll  _feel_  real." He glanced over his shoulder. "The Medi-gel isn't real, either, but if used, it'll stop the pain input."

"Yeah … let's save the torture for another day, shall we?" She smiled when he chuckled. "How does this pain input thing even work?"

"There's a stall in the next room—the VI will walk you through it." He pointed toward the door. "You'll attach sensors to yourself the simulator will use to track your movements and verify if you've been hit by an opponent's attack. The sensors will send electrical pulses through your nervous system, creating a pain response."

"Fantastic," she said, letting the sarcasm drip from her words.

He chuckled again, submitting the simulation parameters and turned toward the door off to the side. "Ready?"

She sighed, following in his footsteps. "Suppose so."

* * *

Jasmine hissed, gritting her teeth to keep from yelling as her shoulder exploded in pain. Reflexively, she slapped a hand over the wound and scurried back behind the low wall. When she pulled her hand away again, for half a second she was surprised to see her fingers weren't covered in blood. She sucked in a deep breath and glanced around the edge of the opening, finding the same turian who shot her advancing on her position, his pistol aimed low.

Pushing herself up to a crouch, she hurried along the wall, doing her best to keep her head down and ignore the throb in her shoulder. She reached the end and glanced around the edge, finding the way clear. She slipped around the corner and looked again, just in time to see the turian disappear behind the wall. Picking up the pace, she kept moving, going almost full circle until she popped up behind the turian, sticking the muzzle of her pistol against the back of his skull and pulled the trigger.

Another shot rang out and she spun around in time to see a batarian drop to the ground a couple of meters away. Across the faux, dystopian city street, Isaac reloaded his sniper rifle, meeting her gaze before disappearing in the shadows. A moment later a cooling rush swept over her shoulder, washing away the pain, and she knew he must've used the Medi-gel release. She activated her cloak, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the disintegrating corpses before the cloak dropped again. Catching sight of a fire escape ladder, she bolted forward, jumping and kicking off the wall, giving herself the lift she needed to grab the bottom rung and pull herself up.

Scrambling up the ladder, she found the perfect sniper's nest and bunkered down. Scanning the streets through her scope, she spotted another turian and a human taking cover behind a derelict skycar and grinned. She adjusted her scope, bringing the turian into better focus, lining up her shot. She took a breath, squeezing the trigger on the exhale, and the turian dropped. The human hopped up, his pistol swinging around, wild and startled as he tried to find her location. Backing away, he moved to an alleyway and tucked himself in against the wall. She followed him with her scope, taking her time, waiting for him to poke his head back out again.

The sound of shots being exchanged somewhere off to her right and toward the back of the arena let her know Isaac's position, but she kept her eye to her scope. A second later, the human peered around the edge, right into her crosshairs, and she took the shot. She waited just long enough to watch him drop before collapsing her rifle and rushing to the ladder, climbing down. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she activated her cloak again, and drawing her pistol, she took off toward the sound of gunfire.

She didn't make it far before her cloak dropped again, forcing her to take her time and stay close to cover. Isaac held back through all of the rounds, only taking shots when he needed to, and when he did take a shot, he didn't miss. So if it took him so long to take down the shooter, then either he'd been badly hurt—well, the sensors made him feel like he was hurt—or he meant to buy time for her to get into place; they were there for him to see her in action, after all. Either way, she needed to get them off his back.

Peering around a half collapsed building, she caught sight of a batarian and a human firing toward a dark alley. They stopped shooting and waited, their backs to cover. The batarian shifted his weight and a shot rang out, ripping through his shoulder, the lack of blood reminding Jasmine that he existed only as a really good hologram. Still, he yelled as if it hurt and pulled further back into cover.

She lifted her pistol, taking aim from cover, and shot the batarian in the side of the head. Stepping back fully behind the wall, she activated her cloak before crossing over to the next building and rushed down its length, ducking around the corner to wait. As she suspected, it only took a few moments before the human appeared, looking up and down the street. She smiled and took her shot, but he turned at the last second, and the bullet only grazed his cheek. He dove back into cover before firing down the length of the building; his haphazard shots tearing into the wall next to her.

"Shit." She peered around the corner, and he fired again. Her cloak finished recharging, she could activate it and run, but she wouldn't make it to the next nearest cover before it dropped again. She needed to buy herself some time to think, so she fired off a couple of shots in the general direction of the armorless, Blue Suns merc hologram.

Glancing around, she scraped her teeth over her lip when she saw the jagged edge of a broken wall. She took a step away from the wall, making sure to stay out of sight, and looked up, following the edge with her gaze all the way up to the roof.

_I can make that._

She fired off a couple more shots, just to keep the merc preoccupied before holstering her pistol and mounting the wall. Hunching over, she used her hands and feet to grip the narrow, stone edge and started climbing. The stone dug and cut into her fingers and palms, but she pushed on, the incline low enough to allow her to move swiftly. Reaching the top, she pulled herself up onto the roof and rolled away from the edge. She took a moment to catch her breath and looked at her stinging hands, free of any actual scrapes.

She heard the merc moving down below, boots crunching over debris, and she pushed herself up to a crouch. Creeping her way over to the edge, she glanced down, finding he'd moved almost all the way down to her side of the building. Drawing her pistol again, she took a breath and steadied her shaking hand. The man stopped, pressing his back to the wall and peeked around the edge. He stepped away and out into the open, head swiveling side to side before turning in a circle. She took another breath and leveled her gun on the merc, pulling the trigger. He stumbled back, the bullet taking him in the meaty muscle of his shoulder. She fired again and again, making sure he went down and stayed down.

"Not bad."

Startled, she spun, pistol raised to meet the new threat. Isaac stood on the next roof over, leaning against a vent shaft. He smirked, and the simulation began to dissolve around them. She glanced down, lowering her weapon as the roof disappeared beneath her feet, leaving her standing on metal scaffolding.

* * *

Thane rang the buzzer and tucked his hands behind his back. Without Jasmine there to fill his days, he found himself becoming restless. Admittedly, part of those feelings came from being idle for so long. He missed work, having his mind and body engaged, his skills and limits tested. Being on Kahje, paying for his treatments and the rehabilitation center for the last few months used a large portion of his savings, as well. He looked forward to spending the evening with Kolyat, perhaps seeing his son might help to ease his mind and occupy his thoughts with something more productive.

A moment later, Kolyat answered the door, a smile on his face. "Hello, Father. Please, come in."

"Hello, Kolyat." Thane stepped inside and followed Kolyat down the hall. "Have you decided where you'd like to go for dinner?"

"I think I would like to try  _The Low Tide_ , if you do not mind," Kolyat said glancing over his shoulder.

Thane dipped his head, smiling at his son. "Not at all,  _The Low Tide_  sounds wonderful."

Kelena rounded the corner, coming out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. "Hello, Thane. I hope you are well."

"Kelena, it is good to see you." He put a hand on her arm when she leaned into him, letting her press her cheek to his in an affectionate gesture. "I am well, thank you. I hope you are, too."

Stepping back again, she smiled and rested a hand on the light swell of her abdomen."I am. Rone is in his study, if you wish to say hello."

"Indeed, thank you." Thane dipped his head and pat Kolyat on the shoulder before making his way down the hall. He knocked on the closed study door and opened it when he heard Rone beckon him to enter. "Hello, Brother."

Rone turned in his chair and smiled. "Thane, I am pleased to see you." He stood and waved his hand at the other chair near the desk.

Thane sat down, and Rone returned to his seat. "I spoke to Jasmine this morning," Thane said, resting his hands on his thighs. "She's amenable to keeping in contact with Kolyat. I hope to speak with her again this evening while we're at dinner, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to voice any concerns in case you changed your mind."

Rone sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Of course I have concerns, but I can no more judge her for her profession than I judge you for yours. Even with that aside, she is mostly a stranger to me. I have nothing but your word to go on as to whether or not she is a safe person for Kolyat to know … but I must trust your judgement, you are his father and my brother. I do not believe you would knowingly endanger Kolyat or have him communicate with someone you had your own doubts about."

Thane opened his mouth to speak, a million reassurances dancing on the tip of his tongue—anything to ease Rone's mind, anything to let Thane just have something he so desperately wanted, but …. "Rone … if you don't want Kolyat to speak to Jasmine, I won't pretend it doesn't upset me, but I will respect your wishes."

"No, Brother," Rone said, shaking his head and looking at the floor. "I will not ask it of you. You love this woman, and Kolyat is fond of her. It is only right the two of them should know one another." He took a deep breath and met Thane's gaze. "I believe Irikah would have wanted it as well."

Thane lowered his gaze and swallowed, fighting back the wave of guilt washing over him. He wanted to believe Irikah would approve, but a part of him doubted she'd want yet another assassin in her child's life, regardless of what he felt for Jasmine. Especially when having one assassin in their lives led to her death and very nearly claimed Kolyat's life as well. He swallowed again and nodded. "Thank you, Brother. Kolyat's waiting for me, I should go."

"Enjoy your evening … and tell Jasmine I said 'hello.'" Rone stood when Thane did, walking him to the door.

Thane smiled and dipped his head. "I will, thank you."

Kolyat waited for Thane at the end of the hall, his hands tucked behind his back, staring off toward the living room. He turned, smiling as Thane approached. "I am ready, Father."

"As am I."

* * *

"Your uncle tells me you've been having bad dreams again." Thane glanced at Kolyat just in time to see the boy wince, and then he averted his gaze, looking at his plate to give his son a moment to collect himself.

"I wish he had not told you."

Lifting his brow ridges in surprise, Thane met Kolyat's gaze. "I'm your father, Kolyat. It's good I know these things."

"It will only make you worry, and there is nothing to worry about. I am fine." Kolyat pushed his food around on his plate. "I told Uncle Rone he does not need to be concerned, either."

"We love you; we only want to make sure you're happy." Thane sighed when Kolyat didn't respond. It pained him to know his son suffered, and he felt helpless with no idea of how to repair the damage done to Kolyat. "Your uncle thinks it might have something to do with Jasmine leaving Kahje."

Kolyat's lips twitched downward before flattening out. "Why should her leaving matter to me?"

The fact he posed it as a question said more to Thane than did his flat tone or the sentiment itself. Had Rone been there, he would've scolded Kolyat, believing the direct question a sign of disrespect and rudeness. Thane, on the other hand, found he actually prefered the more direct line of discussion. He'd grown tired of the evasiveness most of his people and the hanar used when conversing. Having Jasmine there, her blunt mannerisms and light-hearted teasing, eased the strain, freeing him to do the same—albeit to a lesser degree. He missed her. Already. Though she'd only left a couple of days before, he missed her and longed to see her again.

He smiled, hoping to encourage Kolyat to drop the wall Thane saw him building up around himself. "Because you enjoyed her company, and you miss her. Perhaps her leaving reminded you that I, too, will soon leave." He cleared his throat and shifted forward, lowering his voice. "I wonder if after your mother's death and the way I," he said, pausing to swallow before choking the rest of his statement out, "abandoned you … I wonder if a part of you fears everyone you care about will eventually do the same."

"I am fine, Father." Kolyat blinked, and Thane thought he saw a dampness to the boy's eyes.

"Very well, but I want you to know when I leave, it won't be forever. I will call you as often as I can, and I will return to Kahje to visit. You have my word." Thane reached across the table and squeezed the top of Kolyat's hand. "Would you like to call Jasmine? I've spoken with her and she'd very much like to be able to keep in contact with you. I already cleared it with your uncle."

Kolyat held his father's gaze, brow ridge creeping a little higher. "I—she wants to talk to me?"

"Indeed." Thane dipped his head, a hesitant smile taking root, tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Kolyat dropped his gaze to his plate, pushing his food around a little more before finally speaking again, "Then yes, I would like to call Jasmine."

Thane let the smile break free and spread across his face, shoulders relaxing as he let out a relieved sigh. "Let's finish eating first, and then we can call her before I take you home."

Kolyat's mood shifted dramatically throughout the rest of the meal. He began smiling more, and even laughed at something Thane said once or twice. He launched into a full-scale explanation of the laws and processes of thermodynamics, having discussed them in one of his classes earlier in the day. Thane listened intently, already familiar with many of the concepts Kolyat explained, but more than content to simply be there in the moment with his son, heart swelling with pride. He wished, more than anything just then, he'd been able to do more of exactly that very thing when Kolyat was younger. Still, by the time they'd finished their meal, Thane felt light and almost giddy from what he saw as hope for his future—something he'd completely abandoned before the day Jasmine walked into his life.

The restaurant wasn't particularly busy, so Thane decided to call Jasmine from there, and he moved to sit beside Kolyat. Opening his omni-tool, he typed in her contact information from memory and waited while the call connected. Disappointment flooded him when the screen flashed, declaring the call rejected, and he saw Kolyat's shoulders slump in his peripheral. "She might be at work and unable to answer the call, it doesn't mean—"

The vibration of a new message coming through cut him off mid-sentence. Glancing at the extranet address attached to the notification, he saw it was from Jasmine and opened the message. "Ah. She said she will call us back in just a few minutes."

Kolyat smiled, sitting up a little straighter again. "It is kind of her to let us know."

Thane chuckled. "Indeed. Would you like to order dessert while we wait?"

Grin widening, Kolyat activated the menu kiosk on the table and began browsing through the selections, spinning the bracelet Jasmine gave him around and around on his wrist. Eventually, he chose a light pastry covered in sweetened fruit, something  _The Low Tide_ called 'Island Bliss'. Thane decided to order the same for himself, though he didn't know if he'd eat it all.

A moment later, Jasmine called. He opened the omni-tool, drinking in the sight of her face, a slow smile spreading across his own. She looked tired, but not unwell. The sheen of sweat drying on her skin and the manner of her dress told him she'd been physically active, perhaps exercising or training with her new handler as she implied when she called earlier that morning.

She grinned, her gaze slipping between Thane and Kolyat. "Hello, gentlemen."

Kolyat shifted in his chair, moving a little closer and leaning in toward Thane's omni-tool. "Hello, Jasmine. It is good to see you again. I hope you are well."

"Hey, it's good to see you, too. I'm doing good." She leaned forward, propping her elbow on the table in front of her and rested her chin in her palm. "How are things going for you?"

Kolyat seemed to relax, moving in a little closer until his shoulder pressed against Thane's. "I am well. Father and I just ate dinner, and now we are waiting for dessert."

She picked up a glass of water and drained half of it before turning her attention back to Kolyat. "Mmmm. What'd you order?"

"Island Bliss."

Jasmine's brows twitched and she glanced at Thane, the confusion clear on her face.

He smiled, letting out a soft chuckle and waved a dismissive hand. "Ah, it's a pastry with fruit. Island Bliss is what the restaurant named the dish."

"Nice. I've got a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream calling my name. My favorite." She glanced off to the side, presumably towards the kitchen, before locking her gaze on Kolyat. "I convinced your dad try it, he seemed to like it."

"Indeed." Thane dipped his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he held the memories of that particular evening at bay. "It's quite good."

Kolyat shifted a little, drawing Thane's attention as he glanced between his father and Jasmine. "I am not familiar with ice cream."

"It's the best thing to come from Earth." She smirked, shrugging and tilting her head toward her shoulder. "Besides me, of course."

Kolyat laughed. "Uncle Drali said salsa was the best thing he tasted on Earth."

"Obviously he's never tried mint chocolate chip ice cream." She waggled her head side to side. "But yeah, salsa is pretty good, too."

"Perhaps someday I will get to visit Earth and try ice cream and salsa. You and Father could come, too."

She smiled, something about it ringing false to Thane, and he knew it meant she didn't think anything of the sort would ever happen. Admittedly, he had trouble imagining it himself, but it was a nice thought.

"And French fries. Real French fries." She sat back against her chair. "Hmmm. What else? Oh, spaghetti. Spaghetti with meatballs for sure. Hawaiian pizza. Beef with broccoli. I bet you'd like sushi."

"I have not heard of sushi." Kolyat sounded almost overwhelmed by the list. "Or any of those other things, for that matter."

She grinned and picked up her water glass again but didn't bring it to her lips. "There's different kinds of sushi, but basically it's raw fish or sometimes cooked crab—crab is a lot like the  _ka'tira_ —with vegetables wrapped up inside of rice and seaweed." She took a drink and sat the glass back down.

Kolyat's eyes widened, and Thane suppressed a chuckle at the sheer look of shock on the boy's face. "I did not know anyone but the hanar ate fish raw."

"We don't always, or even usually, really." Shrugging, she shifted in her chair, bringing a foot up to rest on the seat and draped her arm over her knee. "It's pretty good, though. I mean, I don't think I'd want to just eat raw fish by itself—they call it sashimi—but it's good in sushi." She laughed. "Don't look so skeptical. At least try it if you get the chance."

"I've eaten sushi," Thane said, drawing her attention back to him. "There's a place which serves it on the Citadel."

"Ryuusei's, yeah. I've been there once or twice." She pursed her lips. "Hmmm. Might go there tonight, sounds good. What'd you think about it?"

"It was … interesting." He hadn't particularly cared for what he'd ordered, something called a spicy tuna roll, but he supposed other items on the menu might've been more appealing.

She snorted, lifting a brow. "Interesting good or interesting bad?"

"The kind I tried was a bit hotter than I prefer," he said with a shrug.

"Mmm. Yeah, some of them are." Pushing back a stray piece of hair escaped from her ponytail, she nodded. "Especially if you eat them with wasabi."

"Indeed." He remembered the green paste the waiter called 'wasabi'. It came on his plate along with thin slices of a root they called 'ginger', also carrying a certain heat. The waiter warned him to only use a small amount of wasabi with each piece, but even then, it was strong enough to almost completely cover the other flavors. So, he stopped using it, only to find the sushi itself carried more of a kick than he'd anticipated, despite the name. It didn't taste bad, he just felt he missed the subtler flavors the dish had to offer. "Perhaps I'll convince you to go there with me the next time I'm on the Citadel, and you can help me make a better choice."

"Sounds like a good plan." Jasmine smiled, holding his gaze for a moment before she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Kolyat. "So, Kolyat, anything new and exciting happen since we last talked?"

Thane turned his head to look at his son. Kolyat took a deep breath and opened his mouth but stopped, gaze flicking to Thane before he shook his head. Thane suppressed the urge to lift his brow ridge and question Kolyat, clearly there was something the boy wanted to say but decided to hold back at the last moment. If he didn't want to talk about it, though, Thane wouldn't push him.

Jasmine, however, opted for an uncouth approach. "Uh huh. You sure about that? Seems like you're holding out on me, kid."

Kolyat let out a slight croak, his gaze shifting back to Thane again. Thane offered him a warm smile, hoping it appeared encouraging and supportive.

Resolve tightened Kolyat's features, and he turned his attention back to Jasmine, squaring his shoulders. "I almost got in a fight at school today."

Thane kept his face neutral, but inside, his mind was a flurry of activity. He quickly pushed aside the worst case scenarios, fears of Kolyat being in danger, and anger at the idea someone might've thought to strike his son. Instead he focused on the 'almost' and tried to take comfort in the understanding that children sometimes fought with one another. Blinking, he turned his gaze back to Jasmine.

Lifting her eyebrows in a slow, measured movement, she asked, "Yeah? What happened?"

"Raamel said he heard his parents talking, and his mother said she saw Father at the hotel where she works, holding a human in his arms as one would hold a lover."

Thane's breath caught in his throat and he grew very still. Shock flashed over Jasmine's face, eyes widening, lips parting. Neither of them spoke—a mistake which alerted Kolyat to something being amiss.

He looked back and forth between the two of them, brow furrowing as his gaze settled on Thane. Shaking his head, his voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper when he said, "I told him it is not true; you and Jasmine are only friends."

Jasmine recovered faster than Thane, her face smoothing out into a calm visage. "That's …." She trailed off when Kolyat looked at her again. "So what'd he say?"

"He became angry with me because I accused his mother of lying." Kolyat's gaze locked onto Thane when he let out a strangled cough. "Of course it is a lie. Right, Father?" His voice began to take on a panicked edge, volume growing a little louder.

"I …." Thane found himself at a complete loss. He wasn't prepared to address his relationship with Jasmine so soon, but what else could he do? He didn't want to tell his son a blatant lie. "Jasmine and I …."

Kolyat's head whipped back in Jasmine's direction. "Jasmine?" His voice cracked, stalling over her name before nearly screeching as he demanded, "Tell me it is a lie!"

She wrapped her arms around her knee, hugging her leg close to her chest. "Kolyat …."

"I see." Kolyat stood, his chair scraping loudly across the floor, not that it mattered, his frantic tone already drew the attention of almost everyone in the restaurant. He slipped the bracelet Jasmine gave him on his birthday from his wrist and tossed it on the table. Glancing at his father, fire burning in his eyes, he turned on his heel and started walking.

Thane stood. "Kolyat?" Heaving an almost painful sigh, he met Jasmine's gaze. "I'll call you later, siha. I'm sorry."

She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. "Go, make things right with your son." She offered him a brief, sympathetic smile, and then the screen went black.

He picked up the bracelet, stuffing it into his pocket and rushed after Kolyat, tossing a credit chit down on the hostess' podium on his way out.


	12. Surprises

**Surprises**

"Kolyat, wait!" Thane broke into a jog, chasing after his son. Catching up, he reached out, grasping the boy's shoulder.

Kolyat spun around, shirking his father's hand off of him and glared at Thane. "When were you going to tell me you decided to  _replace_  Mother?"

Thane stumbled back, the words knocking the wind out of him easier than a blow to his solar plexus. He gasped, his mouth working soundlessly for a moment. "I'm not—Jasmine's not replacing your mother."

"No? Then what do you call it?" Kolyat shook his head, pulling back further when Thane held a hand out to him. "Is she why you called Uncle Rone? Did you think because you replaced Mother you could try to be a real father again?"

Thane winced, his heart shattering inside his chest, razor sharp shards piercing his lungs. "Kolyat …." What could he say? Jasmine  _was_  the reason he finally called Rone but not for the reasons Kolyat thought. He truly realized how wrong he'd been to abandon Kolyat, she helped him to see the truth, and he wanted to make amends—wanted to share in his son's life.

"Just leave me alone. I do not want to see you again." Kolyat turned his back on Thane and started walking again.

Thane rubbed at the empty hole in his chest where moments before his heart sat, feeling his dreams eek away with each step Kolyat took. He forced his feet to move, closing the distance Kolyat put between them. "Son, please, stop and talk to me. Allow me to explain."

Glancing over his shoulder, Kolyat sneered but kept walking. "I do not want to hear your explanations."

"I love her, Kolyat. I didn't plan to, but it doesn't change what I feel. Falling in love is not a crime." Thane knew the desperation in his voice wouldn't go unheard, but he prayed Kolyat understood his pleading to be the sign of the abundance of love he felt for everyone involved. He hoped some part of Kolyat knew he wouldn't—couldn't—feel so strongly, let alone express so much emotion if he didn't mean it with the entirety of his being. "It doesn't mean I love or miss your mother any less."

Kolyat flung his arms out to the sides, turning to face Thane even as he continued to walk backwards, as if he couldn't stand the thought of letting his father close any more of the distance separating them. "Then why would you do this to her?"

Thane knew they had the attention of everyone within earshot. They all kept their gaze politely averted, but he felt the weight of the judgement nonetheless. He sighed and gave his son a slow shake of his head, his voice soft and broken when he said, "She's gone, Kolyat. I wish it weren't so, but Irikah is gone to the sea, and she's not coming back."

Kolyat stopped in his tracks. The fury held his shoulders rigid for the space of three heartbeats before it abandoned him, and he deflated, nearly collapsing. Thane rushed forward, hands shooting out to grab his son's arms, keeping Kolyat on his feet.

Tears poured down Kolyat's face in thick streams. "Father, I—" A sob tore through his throat and he fell forward, burying his face in Thane's chest.

A dam burst inside of Thane, and his own tears broke free. He wrapped his arms around Kolyat, pulling his child—the only thing pure and good he brought into the universe—in closer and rested his face on the boy's head. After a moment of shared silence filled only with shaky breaths, sniffles, and the whispers of strangers surrounding them, Thane rubbed his hand along Kolyat's spine and said, "Jasmine can't replace your mother. No one can ever replace your mother. But she loves me and cares about you, she wants to be your friend, Kolyat. I hope you won't shut her out." Reflexively, he tightened his grip when Kolyat stiffened and started to pull away. "Be angry with me if you must, I understand, and it's nothing less than I deserve, but please don't hold her accountable for my failures."

Kolyat resisted, pulling himself free and taking a couple of steps back. He shook his head, defiance and pain swirling together behind his ocular scales. "I do not want to talk to Jasmine. I wish I never met her. I wish," he said, shaking his head again as fresh tears sprung up in his eyes, "you would just stay on Kahje. Stop running away from me." He rubbed at his eyes, lip lifting in a silent snarl, as if he hated the fact he was crying. "And I wish she would never come back."

"I'm not running from you, Kolyat." Thane took a chance and put a hand on Kolyat's shoulder, wanting nothing more than to stay connected to his son. "I won't try to make you talk to her if you don't want to, but I can't stay here, and that has nothing to do with Jasmine, either."

Kolyat shrugged off Thane's hand and took in a deep breath, meeting his father's gaze. "Then why?"

"I—we've talked about this, Kolyat." Thane hated himself just then. Not only for all the pain and suffering he'd caused Kolyat with Irikah's death and his abandonment, nor just for the pain he caused with his deceptions about Jasmine, but for being a man who lived a life that forced him to conceal himself from his son. "I can't give you the answers you want, not until you're older."

"How old?" The spark of defiance returned to Kolyat's eyes. "How much older do I need to be before you stop lying and keeping secrets from me?"

Thane sighed, defeat weighing heavily on him, a stole of shame around his shoulders. "I'm sorry, truly I am. I promise, when you're grown, I'll tell you everything."

And with that, Kolyat shut himself off, his underdeveloped battle sleep enveloping him, glazing over his eyes in a way any drell would recognize. "I want to go home now."

Pressing his lips into a tight line, Thane pulled the shroud of nothingness loosely around himself, an ephemeral barrier to keep his emotions safely at bay for the time being. He knew he'd pushed his son far enough for one night, and he didn't want to push any further. He dipped his head. "Very well."

* * *

Kolyat opened the door and walked inside, leaving Thane standing outside. The rest of the trip back home passed in complete silence, not a single word passing between the two of them. Kolyat never even glanced his father's way.

"Kolyat?" Kelena walked into sight, taking a few steps towards the hall before she glanced over and spotted Thane. Her brow lifted, and she made her way to the door. "Thane, please come inside. I hope …" She turned, glancing over her shoulder in the direction Kolyat disappeared. "... I hope dinner went well."

"Ah." Thane stepped inside, tugging at the edges of his jacket before tucking his hands behind his back. "Not as well as I anticipated."

"This saddens me to hear." She met his gaze again, sympathy in her eyes—sympathy he was almost entirely certain he didn't deserve. "I just put  _cinuela_ on, I would love it if you would have a cup with us. Perhaps we can talk for awhile."

He smiled even though he felt numb and empty inside. "I would like that, thank you."

Reaching out, she squeezed his arm. "Please, make yourself at home. I will tell Rone you are here."

Thane dipped his head and followed her further inside, taking a seat on the couch as she made her way down the hall. Clasping his hands together, he propped his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, closing his eyes and pressing his mouth to his hands. A moment later, the sound of footsteps alerted him to Kelena and Rone's return. He opened his eyes and stood, meeting Rone's disappointed gaze.

Thane coughed into his fist. "I'm afraid Kolyat is upset with me. We should talk."

Rone waved his hand toward the dining room. Thane dipped his head and walked to the table, pulling out a chair and taking a seat. Rone sat with him, and Kelena went to the kitchen, the smell of  _cinuela_ filling the air.

"Kolyat told Jasmine and I that someone at school mentioned to him that their mother saw Jasmine and I together … in a way suggesting we are more than friends." Thane glanced at the table as Kelena sat a cup of  _cinuela_  down in front of him. "My thanks." He wrapped his hands around the warm cup and took a deep breath. "I didn't know what to say and neither did she. He asked if it was a lie … and I couldn't bring myself to say it wasn't true."

"Perhaps it is good he knows." Kelena sat down across from Thane, holding her cup near her face as she blew across the steaming surface.

Thane frowned and shook his head; nothing good came from the way things went. "He took off the bracelet she gave him and threw it on the table before walking out of the restaurant. Accused me of trying to replace Irikah. I told him those aren't my intentions, no one can ever replace Irikah … but he's still upset." He sighed, dropping his gaze to the cup in his hands. "I'm afraid I've only made things worse between us by trying to ease him into the idea of my loving someone else."

"I see, this is troubling news," Rone said, his grave voice drawing Thane's attention and making him wince inwardly.

"Not as much as you might think, my love." Kelena smiled at her husband, a one-sided, knowing smirk speaking of patience and wisdom. "I will speak with him," she said, turning her gaze to Thane. "I did not lose my father in the same way he lost his mother, but I know what it felt like for me when my mother met someone new. Perhaps I can offer him some reassurances."

"I—I didn't know …." Having already caused enough grief for one night, Thane sat his cup down and proceeded with caution. "My apologies, I hope I haven't made you uncomfortable."

She chuckled, a soft, delicate sound, and sipped her tea. "Not at all, I came to adore the man, and he became a wonderful husband to my mother. He raised me as if I were his own child, and he gave my mother two more children. I could never forget my own father, and as you said, no one could ever replace him, but I am pleased to have had the opportunity to have Anahan as a second father."

Thane raised a brow ridge, leaning in a little closer. "Indeed?"

She dipped her head.

"I would certainly appreciate your efforts." He relaxed, feeling some of the tension he'd been carrying with him ease, the muscles along his shoulders and back loosening as a spark of hope warmed him from within. "I love Jasmine. I don't know what our future holds, but I do hope to have one with her. Kolyat is my son, though, and it's important to me that I'm able to be a part of his life as much as possible."

* * *

"Sierra?"

Jasmine froze, glass of wine halfway to her mouth. She glanced up, seeing Isaac's gaze fixed firmly on something off to her left.

"Sierra?" The familiar voice came from a little closer.

Setting down the glass, Jasmine turned her head.

_Nevas. Shit._

The asari stood two meters away, face full of shock and more than a hint of fear. She took a hesitant step closer, offering Jasmine a tremulous smile. Isaac stood, a charming smile and a wave inviting Nevas over as he pulled out a chair. Nevas' gaze flicked between Jasmine, Isaac, and the chair, her eyes as wide a startled deer.

Finally, Jasmine remembered how to breathe, sucking in a lungful of air and smiled. "Nevas." She slid out of her chair, catching the half step back the asari took when she did so. "It's good to see you."

Nevas glanced toward the door, and Jasmine knew if she didn't think of something fast, the asari was going to run for it. That might be disastrous. Ryuusei's was too busy, too upscale for them to cause a scene, and C-Sec would surely be called in if Jasmine tried to stop her from leaving. And Jasmine definitely couldn't let Nevas just walk away, not without some assurance the asari didn't plan to go straight to C-Sec herself.

"I'm surprised to see you here, I—I tried to find you on Illium, but you were gone." Jasmine lowered her gaze, turning her mouth down at the corners. She thought about Leon laying there on the balcony and willed tears into her eyes. "I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to tell you how sorry I am for everything that happened …."

Nevas took a step closer. "What  _did_  happen?"

Making a point of looking around the crowded restaurant, Jasmine wiped the tears from her eyes and then glanced at the empty chair Isaac pulled out. "Do you want to sit with us? Give me a chance to explain?"

Nevas glanced at Isaac, and he smiled again, moving away from the chair and back to his own seat. Jasmine really, really, really wished Nevas hadn't shown up while she was with Isaac. The conversation she needed to have with the asari would be like walking through a minefield even without the added tension of having to do it in front of her new handler. Nevas glanced at the door again and then walked over to the table, tucking her skirt in as she sat down.

Jasmine willed a weak smile on her face and swallowed, acutely aware of the rapid throb of her pulse in her throat, and slipped back into her own chair. "Nevas, this is my friend, Ray."

"Hello." Nevas glanced his direction, her gaze not quite meeting him, as if she'd already dismissed him from her reality, the greeting a mere reflexive.

Isaac's eyebrow twitched—whether with offense or humor Jasmine didn't know—but still his voice came out smooth, dripping with his honeyed-tongue charm. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jasmine looked down at her lap, trying to put her thoughts in order as she spun a story that might possibly be able to explain why 'Sierra Stone' showed up at Nevas' front door, gun in hand, to kill her husband on the asari's balcony. And then, like a ghost whispering in her ear, she heard Leon's voice in the back of her head.

_You know what to tell her, love. Don't complicate it, let her keep her truth and fill in the blanks. Adam Stone was a jealous husband, the two of you fought over the attention you were giving Nevas, things got ugly, and he snapped._

Clearing her throat a little, she kept her voice low. "Adam … our marriage was in trouble. Things had been going south for awhile, long before we moved to Illium." She tugged at the corner of her napkin and pulled it to her, fingers fretting over the cloth, channeling her anxiety into the motions of twisting it around and around in her hands. "We thought moving might help us to fix things, but we got a two bedroom so we could take things slow. It wasn't working, though." She shook her head, gaze flicking to Isaac who studied her as intently as Nevas. "Not really." Looking down at the napkin balled up in her fist, she took a deep breath and let the tears well up in her eyes again. "He was a jealous man, and the night of the gala, after we left you at your place, we got into a huge fight … over you."

Nevas gasped, sitting up a little straighter. "Over me?"

Jasmine gave the asari a half-hearted shrug. "Adam thought you and I were … he accused me of having an affair with you, or at least wanting to." She glanced away again, guiding herself through the motions of expressing embarrassment she didn't really feel. "To be honest, I don't really know what went on inside that man's head. He cheated on me once," she said, shoving a finger against her chest, ripe with indignation—definitely a feeling she didn't need to pretend at, "and after that,  _he_ never trusted  _me_." She scoffed and waved her hand before returning it to the napkin. "Anyway, after the gala, things just kept getting worse between us." Reaching up, she traced the faint scar over her temple, feeling the anger, the hurt and betrayal all over again. Her heart ached, writing in her chest. God damn it she hated Leon, she hated him so much for Illium. She hated him for making her kill him. She hated him for dying. "The night … the night Adam died, our fighting got … physical."

"He hit you? So that's why your face was so …." Nevas covered her mouth with her hand. "Goddess."

Jasmine rubbed her forehead, her hand trembling with the emotional battle raging inside of her. Normally she would fight to control her feelings, act out what she needed to convey, but she just felt so much … reality mixed in with her fiction, and damn it if it wasn't helping her to sell the tragedy. "He was coming to kill you. He beat me and then left me on the floor of our apartment, saying he'd be damned if he let you have me." She swallowed back a genuine sob and ran a knuckle under her eyes. "He got his gun, and the look in his eyes … I just knew. Oh God, Nevas, I'm so sorry. I tried to stop him from leaving, I swear, but he hit me so hard I blacked out." She sucked in a shuddering breath and met Nevas' gaze, using her eyes to plead with the woman for understanding. "I …."

Nevas made a shushing nose, reaching over to put a hand on Jasmine's arm and squeezed gently. "Sierra, you saved my life. You probably saved Saman's, too. Thank you."

Sniffling, Jasmine nodded her head. She didn't protest when Nevas scooted her chair closer, wrapping her arms around Jasmine's shoulders. Leaning into the embrace, Jasmine rested her forehead on Nevas, hiding her tear-stained face—Christ, she probably had mascara everywhere—from prying eyes. For one wild second, the urge to take it all back and tell Nevas the truth reared its head. Hell, she deserved it, didn't she? Jasmine damned near got the woman killed and made her complicit in a fucking massacre.

 _I'm sure Isaac would just_ love  _that._

After a few deep, calming breaths, she leaned back and wiped her face before rubbing the tears—and black smudges—into her pant leg. She needed to suck it up, she had a job to do, a role to play and she needed to play it right. "So, what happened to you? You just disappeared. I thought with everything happening at RetCorp … I thought maybe someone else came after you, too."

"I found a way out of my contract with RetCorp, but I needed to leave right away." Nevas smiled, joy lighting up her face, and she put her hand back on Jasmine's arm. "I moved back home, to Thessia."

Jasmine smiled, truly happy to see the asari managed to make it to Thessia safely and found peace there. "That's wonderful."

"I heard about the thing with RetCorp on the news. Crazy," Isaac asked, drawing their attention to him. "Did they ever figure out what all of it was about?"

"No, not officially." Nevas shook her head. "I've heard rumors of it being done by someone RetCorp hurt with their contracts, but honestly, that could be just about anyone." Her eyes took on a haunted look as she glanced down at the table, and it made Jasmine kind of want to kick Isaac, even though she understood why he wanted to fish for more information. Nevas swallowed and looked back up, glancing between Isaac and Jasmine. "I was there when it all started. I'm lucky I got out of there alive … and then to have Adam …. I never want to go back to Illium for as long as I live."

"Can't say I blame you." Isaac offered Nevas an apologetic smile before his gaze drifted to Jasmine, then down to Nevas' hand on her arm. "How long will you be on the Citadel, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Unfortunately, I'm already booked on a ship out first thing in the morning." Nevas turned her attention back to Jasmine. "I'm so glad I ran into you, though. I think I needed this, needed to know what happened." She glanced to the side, and Jasmine followed her gaze, spotting a waiter moving toward them, his attention locked on Nevas.

"Ms. T'sera?" he said when he got within a meter of her. "Your order is ready. Will you be dining-in afterall? I can have it brought to your table."

"Oh, no." Nevas gave him a polite smile. "I'll just be a moment longer."

"Very well, you may pick it up at the counter whenever you're ready." He bowed at the waist.

"Thank you." Nevas watched him until he'd retreated back beyond the bar and turned her attention back to Jasmine. "I'm sorry, I would stay, but my sister is waiting for me. I promised her I'd bring dinner."

Jasmine shook her head. "No, it's okay. You don't need to apologize." She stood as Nevas pushed back her chair. "Go, be with family. I'm just happy to hear you're safe and don't hate me." Giving Nevas a wry smile, she held her arms out to the asari for a hug.

Nevas laughed and stepped into the embrace. "Of course not." Letting Jasmine go, Nevas ran her hands down Jasmine's arms before closing her fingers around Jasmine's and squeezed. "I'll call you soon, and we can put this ugliness behind us and catch up. It's been good to see you again, Sierra."

"You, too, Nevas." Jasmine watched as Nevas walked away, waving at the asari when she glanced back over her shoulder. She turned her attention back to Isaac as she took her seat.

He watched her, his face expressionless until she raised an eyebrow. Smirking, he shook his head. "You might want to go clean your face up, you look like hell."

Snorting, she swiped at her eyes. "Rude." She knew he was right, though. Standing back up, she glanced around the restaurant until she spotted the restrooms.

"Hey," he said, and she looked back down at him. "You handled that well."

"Thanks." She gave him a weak smile and then made her way to the restroom.

* * *

Jasmine rolled over in her bed with a groan and cracked an eye open. The harsh glare of her omni-tool pulsed with the next vibration against her wrist. Groaning again, she pushed herself up on the bed and turned on the lamp next to her bed. She opened her omni-tool and narrowed her blurry eyes at the unknown number flashing on the screen.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and then accepted the call, breath catching in her throat when Kolyat's face filled the screen. "Hey." A tentative smile crossed her face only to falter as his lips pressed tighter. "I'm glad you called."

He blinked but said nothing.

She hesitated a moment, licking her lips, and then dove in head first. "Did—Did you and your dad get the chance to talk about—"

Kolyat cut her off, intensity filling his face as his eyes narrowed and he leaned in toward the camera. "Why did you come to Kahje?"

Jaw flexing, she sucked in a slow breath, not at all liking his challenging tone. She calmed herself, keeping her voice level. "I wanted to see your dad. I missed him, and I wanted to see how his treatments were going."

Kolyat lifted his chin, almost as if he were looking down his nose at her. "You should know he still loves Mother, and he always will."

_Okay, so this is how we're doing it. You're going to have to try a whole helluva lot harder than that, if you want to hurt my feelings, kid._

Shrugging, she let a soft smile spread her lips. "Of course."

Blinking, the muscles along his jaw jumped and twitched. "He said you cannot replace her."

His snotty tone reminded her a little of the kids back at school who teased her about her father leaving. She suspected it was the exact same tone the kids at school used to taunt him for years, too. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Damn it—way too early in the morning for drama, and Isaac would be knocking on her door in a half hour.

She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a second before letting it out slow. "Oh, Kolyat." She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "I don't want to  _replace_  her."

He dropped his gaze, seeming to stare at the omni-tool itself. Letting the silence linger, he blinked his eyes before pushing his palm into first one eye then the other. "He said he loves you."

Jasmine thought he might be crying, but she couldn't tell for sure. Her chest tightened. "I love him, too."

He looked back up at her, and sure enough, wetness streaked his cheeks. "You are a human."

"I am. Does that make it harder for you?" She lifted her eyebrow a little, wishing she could reach through her omni-tool's screen to hug the kid. If he'd even let her, especially considering the conversation.

"You could find someone human to love." His eyes took on a pleading cast as he wiped at his face again.

_Yep, today's going to be shitty._

She felt little, spiderweb cracks threatening to break her heart and destroy her composure completely. She licked her lips and swallowed. "Would you be happier if your father loved another drell instead?"

Shoulders slumping, he shook his head. "No."

She gave him a slow, understanding nod. "You don't want him to love anyone else but your mother."

Kolyat glanced over his shoulder. When he turned back to the screen, he didn't meet her gaze. "I have to go back to class."

She frowned, wondering if it meant he'd skipped out on class to call her or if he was on a break. "Okay."

"Goodbye, Jasmine." His gaze flicked up, meeting hers for just a second but long enough for her to see the ache and confusion.

"Bye, Kolyat." The words barely left her lips before her screen went dark.

She stared at her omni-tool for a moment, replaying the conversation in her head, trying to ferret out and make sense of Kolyat's thought processes. She knew it wouldn't be easy for him, she just didn't realize he'd take it so hard. Scraping her teeth over her lip, she threw off her covers and made her way to the bathroom, her bladder demanding she table her contemplation for the time being.

After using the toilet and washing her hands, she glanced in the mirror and groaned. Her hair looked like—well, it looked like she'd just crawled out of bed. Why did Kolyat have to call so damn early? She picked up her brush and set to taming her hair, wondering if she should call Thane to tell him about her conversation with Kolyat. She bit her lip and set down the brush, turning to lean against the counter. Opening her omni-tool again, she placed a call to Thane.

"Siha." A smile lit up his face the second their eyes met. "You're up early … or late?"

She smiled, wishing she could wrap her arms around his waist and rest her face on his chest. "Early. Even earlier than planned. I just got a less than pleasant wake up call from Kolyat."

His smile faltered and he moved to sit down at the table. "I see. Are you—is everything alright?"

"I'm okay." She pursed her lips. "He's not, but I'm not really sure how bad it is. How'd things go last night?"

Thane frowned, glancing down. "Not … not as well as I would've liked. What did he say?"

"Oh, basically just that you still love his mother, and I can't replace her." She blew out a breath heavy enough to make her hair flutter when he winced, and then she snorted. "Told me that I could find someone human to love."

Thane's brow ridges shot up. "I didn't realize our not being the same species mattered to him."

"I don't think it really does. I kinda got the impression he just wanted to sell me on the idea so you'd be single. I asked him if he'd be happier if you were with a drell instead, and he said no." She shrugged and fought back a yawn. "Kids aren't always very realistic."

"Indeed." He gave her a rueful smile. "I'm sorry, siha. I hope he didn't upset you."

She shrugged again. "Nothing I can't handle. I tried to make it clear that I understand you'll always love Irikah, and I'm not trying to replace her. I really didn't know what else to say." Glancing at the shower, she said, "Anyway, I can't stay on here long. Bossman will be knocking on my door soon."

Cocking his head to the side, he blinked. "Bossman?"

She smiled over his confusion and nodded. "Isaac. My new handler."

"Ah." He chuckled. "You haven't really spoken of him much, is he … to your liking?"

"Mmmm." She waggled her head side to side. "Well, he lost brownie points making me get up at four in the morning, but yeah he's alright. Oh! I almost forgot. Guess who I ran into last night?"

He lifted a brow ridge. "Must I guess?"

"You're no fun." She stuck her lower lip out in a pout, bringing a smile to his face. "Nevas saw me and Isaac at Ryuusei's."

His smile slowly faded, and his features becoming still. "That must've been ..."

"Awkward? Yeah, yeah it was awkward. It's alright though. She sat down with us, and I explained to her," Jasmine said, waving her hand, "that Adam was a crazed, jealous man who beat his wife and then went to kill the asari he thought she was having an affair with. I figured out what he planned to do, and I got there to stop him as soon as I could."

He seemed to relax a little, the light catching the emerald of his eyes as the moved back and forth, searching her face. "And did she accept this?"

"Yeah, she even thanked me for saving her life. And yours." Jasmine grinned and winked at him. "Well, Saman's. I suspect you'll be hearing from her soon, now the events of that night seem a little clearer to her and have been pushed to the forefront of her mind."

"Indeed." His smile returned, but his voice sounded hesitant when he asked, "Do you still wish for me to refrain from using the alias?"

She pursed her lips and shrugged. "It's your call. I just don't want the Alliance messing with you, ya know?"

"I'll be careful, siha." His smile shifted to a smirk. "As you might recall, I'm exceptionally good at my job."

"Uh huh." She lifted her eyebrows, pulling her chin down and in toward her chest a little, but smiled. "There you go getting all cocky again. One of these days, Krios, I'm gonna kick your ass."

He laughed, the sound sending shivers down her spine. He held her gaze for a moment, smile shifting to something softer. "I look forward to it. I love you, and I miss you."

"I love you and miss you, too." And she did. She woke up feeling a little lost without him next to her. It said something that she missed his presence. Just a year ago, she didn't trust her 'partners' enough to allow them into her home, forget falling asleep next to them; Thane changed everything. "I'll try to call you again this evening, see if you've made any headway with Kolyat."

"Indeed." He dipped his head. "Have a good day, Jasmine."

"You, too." She put her fingers to her lips and then turned them out to him. It eased some of the sudden loneliness creeping in around her when he did the same.

She cut the call and started the shower. Glancing at the time on her omni-tool again, she sent Isaac a message: ' _I'm up already and getting in the shower. I'll message you when I'm out.'_ And then, on second thought, she added: ' _Or just let yourself in and make me breakfast. You know, whatever.'_ She hit send, and then she stripped off her clothes and stepped under the hot water, letting out a contented groan.


	13. Making Progress

**Making Progress**

Jasmine wove her way through the crowds, eyes peeled for the yellow and black jacket she'd seen Isaac wearing earlier in the morning. Admittedly, she'd been skeptical when he first approached her with the new exercise—telling her to try to track and find him in the busy throngs of the Wards. She figured he'd stand out like a sore thumb dressed in such an eye catching ensemble, but damn it if she couldn't find the man to save her life. Still, she wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet. She stopped walking and turned a slow circle, letting herself shift into the state of hyper-awareness she'd learned long ago on the streets.

The scents of floral perfumes swirled around her in thick clouds, cut through with hints of gun oil, searing meat, and body odor. An asari fussed over her omni-tool, a deep scowl on her cyan face, blush pink markings dipping into creases along her brow. A young salarian man stood next to one of the Galactic News Network kiosks, rubbing his hand along his arm as he glanced around; a feminine voice reached her ears, recounting the death tally from an airborne virus on the Migrant Fleet a few months ago. She felt every person moving around her, the slightest brush of a woman's sleeve against her arm stood out as much as if the woman grabbed her instead. She scanned the crowd, her gaze snagging on every scrap of yellow cloth within sight, only to move on half a heartbeat later, her subconscious discarding it as the 'threat' she looked for.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Are you lost?" A turian, wearing the signature blue and black of C-Sec leaned against a store front a couple of meters away from her. The blue, holographic lens of the visor covering his left eye shifted, zeroing in on her when she met his gaze. "Do you need assistance?"

Jasmine bit her lip, Isaac didn't say anything about her not being able to ask for help. Opening her omni-tool, she took a couple of steps closer to the turian. She wasn't especially fond of C-Sec, most of those she'd dealt with were somber, inflexible, and highly suspicious by nature. Jaded by their time in law enforcement. But, at the very least, she could ask him if he'd seen Isaac. She waved the omni-tool in front of him, glancing down at the screen as his public profile popped up, verifying he was, in fact, C-Sec.

"Uh, yeah," she said, glancing at the screen again, matching up the face in front of her with the one on the screen. She closed her omni-tool, turning her attention fully on him. "Thanks, Officer Vakarian. I'm looking for a friend of mine. We got separated earlier …." Her words trailed off when he cocked a brow ridge at her, something telling her he already didn't trust a word she said.

Officer Vakarian opened his own omni-tool and scanned her. "Ramona Salazar. Alliance." He scanned whatever bullshit file the Phantoms put in place for her alias and then closed his omni-tool, tucking his hands behind his back and he straightened up, pushing off the wall. "Hmmm. Doesn't give a rank, never seen that before. How can I help you, Ms. Salazar?"

She snorted and shook her head. "Oh, come on. Don't get all …." She waved her hand at his stiff posture.

Flicking a mandible at her, he relaxed his stance—barely—letting his arms fall back to his sides. He watched her, seeming to keep his face carefully neutral as she moved a little closer to him.

Glancing around her again, she turned her attention back to him. "I got separated from a friend. He's about—What?" She cocked her head to the side when his brow ridge ticked again, the iris on his visor narrowing.

"I'm sorry?" He blinked twice and gave her a slight shake of his head.

She crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her weight to one hip. She'd spent enough time around turians to know when one thought her full of shit. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Officer Vakarian cleared his throat and shifted a little, tucking his hands behind his back once more. "My apologies, ma'am. I've adjusted my targeting visor to pick up on shifts in the heart rates of people I'm interrogating. Yours keeps spiking when you say 'friend' and 'seperated.'"

Sucking in a slow breath, she pursed her lips. "Alright. Fine. I'm looking for my commanding officer. He told me to track him through the crowds. Training exercise sort of thing. And I've lost him." She shrugged. "I'm a sore loser. Help me find him?"

His mandibles fluttered, a smile starting to lift his mouth plates. She saw the struggle in his eyes as he tried to bring his expression back under control. A chuckle escaped his mouth before he cut it off, lifting a fist to his mouth and coughed.

She raised an eyebrow, jaw falling lax for a moment. "Are you seriously laughing at me?" The corner of her mouth raised in a one-sided smile. "I thought joining C-Sec required you to have your sense of humor surgically removed?"

He chuffed, mandibles fluttering again as a full smile spread over his plates. "I must've missed that day. We uh, we don't usually get involved with Alliance training procedures …."

She shifted a little, letting herself relax into the feel of the start of a rapport with the turian and scrunched her nose, waggling her head a little. "We're not your standard Alliance personnel, and this isn't a standard training procedure. It'd be … unofficial assistance. Just a nice turian helping someone out." She shrugged. "I won't tell if you don't."

"I see." Chuckling again, he lifted a finger, scratching at a patch of plate-less hide just under his jaw. "Can you describe him to me, maybe I've seen him."

Grinning, she held a hand up above her head, gauging Isaac's height. "He's about … just under two meters tall. Weighs probably eighty kilos. Dark brown skin and eyes, black hair … looks like he probably spends more time in front of the mirror than I do. He's wearing black slacks and a black shirt with a yellow and black jacket."

The C-Sec officer hummed, looking up to scan the crowd around them. He stopped, his gaze frozen, his visor seeming to focus in on someone in the masses. Chuffing, his mandibles fluttered as he looked back down at her. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say he's that gentleman right over there watching us talk."

Turning she scanned the crowd, catching sight of yellow on black almost instantly. Trailing her eyes up Isaac's torso, she met his gaze, and he smiled, shaking his head at her. "Damn it."

"Hmm. Good news is, he looks more amused than angry."

"Yeah." She turned back to the turian with the blue colony face paint and held her hand out to him. "Thanks, Officer Vakarian."

He shook her hand, lifting a shoulder a little as he did so. "Unofficially, I prefer Garrus. 'Officer Vakarian' just makes me think of my father."

She nodded, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth again. "Garrus it is, then. You can call me Ramona. Thanks," she said, letting go of his hand and taking a few steps back, preparing to turn away, "I owe you one."

He smiled, flicking his mandibles and returned the nod before leaning back against the wall. She turned, making her way through the crowd to where she'd spotted Isaac. There were too many people milling about, and she lost sight of him, but she figured he'd be there waiting for her, ready to get on to her for getting help from someone else, C-Sec no less. When the crowd cleared again, she stopped in her tracks. Isaac was gone.

"Sonofabitch." Her shoulders slumped, and she looked around, catching no sight of him. Turning, she looked back through the crowd at Garrus. Even from the distance, she saw the tell tale signs of his laughter. He tilted his head off to her left, and she grinned, giving him a little wave before heading off in that direction.

* * *

Thane sat at the table with Kolyat while Rone and Kelena worked together to prepare dinner. Kolyat's laptop sat in front of him, a plethora of datapads spread out around the top of the table. Thane read off the list of words Kolyat's teacher wanted him to define for the evening's homework. It'd been three days since Jasmine called to say Kolyat reached out to her, trying to convince her to end her relationship with Thane, and he'd barely spoken to her since. Kolyat and he came to a sort of uneasy truce over Jasmine, in which Thane simply didn't speak to his son about the woman he loved, and Kolyat didn't try to convince Thane to leave her. He knew it wasn't what most would consider a healthy arrangement, but for the time being, it was all they had.

"Microcosm." Thane put the datapad down as Kolyat started to type. Granted his assistance was completely unnecessary, as unnecessary as his actually reading directly from the datapad, but he saw it as something … normal he could do with his son, and so he did. Picking up his glass of iced  _elocol_ , he took a sip, setting it back down when the sound of the door buzzer drew his attention. He pushed out his chair and stood. "I'll answer the door," he said, glancing into the kitchen at Kelena.

"Thank you," she said, glancing over her shoulder with a smile.

He made his way down the hall and opened the door, smiling when he saw Drali. "Brother, it's good to see you." Stepping out of the way, he waved his hand. "Please, come in."

Drali grinned, stepping over the threshold and immediately threw his arm over Thane's shoulder. "I didn't know you'd be here!" He leaned in, whispering, "Good, perhaps dinner won't be quite so boring."

Thane chuckled, patting Drali's back as he closed the door behind them. Letting Drali keep his arm draped over his shoulder, he led the younger man back to the table where Kolyat waited.

"Uncle Drali!" Kolyat grinned, starting to close his laptop.

Thane shook his head, returning to his seat. "You must finish your homework whether or not Drali is here."

Kolyat groaned, but pushed the laptop lid back open. Drali laughed, moving behind the boy to wrap his arms around Kolyat and pressed a loud kiss to the side of the boy's face.

"Ugh!" Kolyat's face contorted with disgust, and he tried to shirk his uncle off of him, which only enticed Drali to plant more kisses over every part of Kolyat's face within reach.

Thane chuckled, watching the affectionate display, trying to imagine himself in Drali's position just then. He couldn't, though, see himself ever being so carefree and playful with his own son. A month or so ago, it would've brought him great sadness, but he'd come to understand he and Kolyat shared their own expressions of affection. As tense as things may be between them at times, they once again had a relationship, and it needn't be like the relationship Kolyat enjoyed with his aunts and uncles.

Kelena came out of the kitchen, carrying a glass of  _elocol_ , and Drali stopped his game, letting go of Kolyat. "Drali, it would please us if you stayed for dinner."

"Of course he will stay, Aunt Kelena." Kolyat glanced at his aunt before shifting his gaze to Drali and lifting a brow ridge. "He always seems to show up just in time for dinner, and you always invite him to stay. It hardly seems like a coincidence."

Drali hissed at the boy, bumping Kolyat's shoulder with his hip. "Shush now, do your homework."

Kelena laughed, handing the glass to Drali. "Hardly a coincidence, indeed, Kolyat."

Drali flashed his teeth in a grin at Kelena, moving over to kiss her on the cheek in greeting. "Dinner sounds lovely. Thank you." He sat down next to Thane, and Kelena went back into the kitchen. "So," he said, turning to Thane, "how's Jasmine?"

"Ah." Thane glanced at Kolyat, finding the boy's brow furrowed, his gaze locked on to his laptop, seeming resolute in his refusal to acknowledge Jasmine's name.

"It appears I've said something wrong." Drali set his glass down, drawing Thane's attention back to him, and he raised a brow ridge.

"Kolyat … is not pleased with Jasmine right now." Thane turned out his palms before clasping his hands together. "Or me, for that matter."

Drali furrowed his brow. "Why, because she left?"

"Because I learned they are in love," Kolyat said, still not looking up from his schoolwork.

"Then you should be happy for your father," Drali said, lifting his brow ridges again when Kolyat looked up. "Many people aren't lucky enough to find one person to love in their lives, he has been blessed to find two."

Kolyat huffed, turning his attention back to his laptop, a scowl etched into his face.

"Kolyat?" Drali pressed, leaning further against the table, dipping his head down as if trying to catch the boy's gaze. "Irikah would be happy for Thane. She wouldn't want him to spend the rest of his life alone and without love."

"How would you know?" Kolyat's accusing gaze returned to his uncle, the sudden flare of fury in his blue eyes leaving Thane breathless. "You were not around anymore than Father was when she was alive!"

"Kolyat!" Rone's voice called from behind them, making both Drali and Thane glance over their shoulder. He stood in the kitchen doorway, a severe look on his face as he looked at his nephew.

"It's alright, Brother," Drali said, turning his attention back to Kolyat. "You're right, I wasn't, and do you know why?"

Kolyat stared at Rone, though, defiance and anger in his eyes. Rone sighed, leaving the kitchen completely to take a seat at the head of the table. He nodded his head toward Drali, and Kolyat dropped his gaze.

"No," he finally answered, shoulders slumping.

"Because my sister understood who I am in my heart, and she, of all people saw in me a need to be free—to explore and learn and grow outside of Kahje. Irikah encouraged me to leave and follow my own dreams. There was a time when she and I were quite close, and I knew her better than anyone else." Drali paused, his gaze flicking toward Thane but not quite meeting his gaze.

"I love Irikah, a part of me died with her, and I would give anything to have her alive and whole again, but that's not how things work, Kolyat." He rubbed a hand over his mouth and down his chin. "I returned to Kahje to help look after you, to honor her, but I will  _never_  lock away what's in my heart simply because she's gone. To do so would dishonor her memory." He shook his head. "She wouldn't want it for me anymore than she'd want your father to spend the rest of his life alone, or for you to expect him to."

Thane's heart ached, it pained him to see his son so upset, but it also hurt to hear the deep loss in Drali's voice. He'd known Irikah and Drali were close when they were young, but he never imagined Irikah encouraged him in his wanderlust. He supposed it made sense, it certainly sounded like something Irikah would do. He thought, perhaps, Drali carried his own burden of blame for not being on Kahje when Irikah was killed.

Kolyat didn't say anything, nor did he look at anyone, instead he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the table in front of him.

After a moment, Thane cleared his throat. "Perhaps we've discussed this enough for now."

"Indeed," Rone said. "Kolyat, put your things away and set the table. You can finish your homework after dinner."

"Yes, Uncle." Kolyat stood, closing his laptop and started gathering the datapads.

"Allow me," Thane said, taking the datapads from Kolyat and picking up the rest.

"Thank you, Father." Kolyat glanced up, barely meeting Thane's gaze before he turned and started toward his bedroom.

Thane followed him down the hall and into the bedroom, carefully laying the datapads down on the desk next to where he put his laptop. Thane started to turn to leave the room but stopped when he felt something tug at his sleeve. Glancing down, he saw Kolyat's fingers wrapped around his cuff, and he met his son's gaze.

"Do you … I am curious to know your thoughts on what Uncle Drali has said." Kolyat let go of Thane's sleeve and tucked his hands behind his back.

Taking a deep breath, Thane waved at Kolyat's bed. "Sit with me?"

Kolyat dipped his head and sat down, watching his father expectantly. Flipping out the tails of his jacket to avoid sitting on them, Thane sat and then folded his hands in his lap. He took a moment, glancing around Kolyat's bedroom, taking in the remnants of their life with Irikah while he gathered his thoughts.

After a moment, Thane said, "Objectively, considering the woman your mother was and the values she carried … yes, I believe your uncle is right. I don't think she would want me to cling to her memory, use her as a reason to keep all others at bay—although this is exactly what I did for many years."

Kolyat stayed quiet for a moment, seeming to ponder what Thane said. After a moment, he met Thane's gaze, brow ridge lifting in question. "You said 'objectively.'"

"Indeed." Thane dipped his head. "Subjectively, I don't know with certainty. A part of me feels your mother must hate me for all I have done, for not being there to protect her when those men came to our home … for not staying by your side to raise you."

"Mother never hated you." Kolyat shook his head. "She loved you, and she missed you. She did not like that you were gone all the time, but she said she accepted it because it was your choice and not someone else's. She believed you loved us and would always find your way back to us."

Thane smiled, though he felt more like shedding tears. He never should have stayed gone so long, should have found his way back to them sooner. Maybe then Irikah would still be alive. Then again, he'd never have met Jasmine …. The thought felt like a vice wrapping itself around his chest and squeezing the breath right out of his lungs.

He cleared his throat, forcing his breathing to remain stable despite the momentary pain. "Your mother was a very kind woman, she gave me far more than I deserved."

"I do not understand what you mean," Kolyat said, brow pulled in as he shook his head.

"Ah." Thane smiled again, the expression coming more naturally as he twisted to rest his hand on Kolyat's shoulder. "Perhaps you will someday, when you fall in love."

The skeptical look on Kolyat's face nearly made Thane laugh. The boy shifted on the bed, facing him a little more squarely. "Does Jasmine give you more than you deserve?"

Thane chuckled, dipping his head. "Yes, I suppose she does."

* * *

Jasmine leaned against the wall, hands on her bent knees while she caught her breath. Sweat dripped down her face—down her  _everything_ —and she lifted her arm to wipe it away. Isaac handed her a bottle of water before leaning against the wall next to her. She smiled, glad to see him sweating as much as she did, and she straightened herself to open the bottle, downing half of it in one gulp.

He drained his bottle and recapped it, pulling the towel off from around his neck and ran it over his face and head before tossing it to the floor against the wall. Setting his empty bottle down, he looked over at her. "Alright, let's get back out there."

She groaned, taking another drink of her water before closing it and setting it on the floor. Picking up her towel, she wiped her face off again and dropped it back where it was. Nodding, she jogged back over to the mats and fell into a defensive stance. Isaac moved out after her, coming in fast and hard with a flurry of punches and palm strikes she could barely keep up with.

It amazed her that even though he and Leon must've received the same training, they'd both adopted completely different styles, both using techniques better suited for their size and stature. Both infuriatingly more than able to kick her ass. Anytime she'd block, he'd counter, any time she'd counter, he'd block, and yet, she successfully blocked and countered far less than he did. He danced around her, never staying in one place for more than a second or two before moving, staying in constant motion, forcing her to do the same.

"We've got an audience," he said, throwing a punch at her face.

She dodged the blow, but didn't take the bait, keeping him in her sights. "Yeah?"

"Group gathered by the door." He shifted, circling to her right.

She followed, keeping him in front of her until they'd completely switched positions on the mat, giving her a glimpse of the doorway without having to take her eyes from Isaac. "Denver and his crew, probably came to play ball."

He smiled, moving in with two quick jabs to her sides before dancing back again. "You ever play with them?"

She nodded once, lunging forward to feint with a punch, only to land a kick to his thigh. "Sometimes."

Grinning at her victory, he chuckled and lifted a brow. "Yeah, you up for a game?"

She smiled, lifting her shoulder, using the motion as a distraction as she sent her other fist flying toward his ribs. "Sure."

He swatted her hand away before it made contact and then hopped back away from her, dropping his stance completely. "Let's see if they want a couple extra players, then."

Jasmine relaxed and nodded, stretching out her arms. With the two of them separated on the mat and no longer sparring, Denver and the others filed into the open gym. Denver and Cornerstone made straight for Jasmine, Cornerstone bouncing the basketball every couple of steps, while the others moved on to the court. They stopped in front of her, snapping her quick salutes.

Isaac cocked an eyebrow, glancing between them and her. "Salazar, why are you making these nice men salute you?"

She snorted, pulling her leg up behind her, holding her ankle against her backside. "The better question is how do I make them stop?"

Isaac laughed and both Denver and Cornerstone grinned at her. She'd given up on trying to convince them to stop saluting her long ago. Half of the marines at the training facility refused to until they knew her rank, and since she couldn't give them a rank, they kept right on saluting. The way they figured it, with a classified rank, she must be too important  _not_  to salute. Which was entirely untrue but also the point, after all, with her alias not being assigned a rank; it gave her maneuverability within the Alliance.

"Glad to have you back." Denver held his hand out to her, and she slapped her palm against his, turning her hand easily as he shifted the gesture from a handshake to something more akin to arm wrestling, and they both gave a little pull. His gaze flicked to Isaac, and he dropped Jasmine's hand before extending his to Isaac. "Service Chief Mark Denver." He jerked his head toward Cornerstone as Isaac shook his hand. "This is Gunnery Chief Daniel Cornerstone."

"Raymond Johnson, classified," Isaac said, switching to shake hands with Cornerstone.

"My CO," Jasmine offered, giving a little clarity to the curious look she saw in Denver's eyes, hoping the little tidbit of information didn't ruffle Isaac's feathers. So far, not much of anything she said or did seemed to, not even involving C-Sec in their little game of cat and mouse.

Both men immediately saluted Isaac, and she didn't even try to hide her shit-eating grin.

"We are in the middle of a gym." He laughed, shaking his head. "None of us are in uniform. Stop saluting me. Consider it an order, if you need to." Isaac glanced at Jasmine, gesturing toward her as he added, "And stop saluting her, too."

They both knew he couldn't actually give anyone outside of the Phantoms orders, but who was she to argue?

"Sir, yes, sir," Cornerstone and Denver said in unison.

"Good." Isaac gave a sharp nod of his head, as if doing so finalized everything. "Now, you two going to invite us to play some ball or what?"

Cornerstone tossed the basketball to Isaac when he held out his hand. Isaac ginned, dribbling the ball as he jogged out onto the court. Cornerstone followed him, leaving Denver with Jasmine.

She nodded her head toward the court and started walking. "Sorry I didn't get to say goodbye in person."

"No worries." He waved a dismissive hand. "How long are you going to be around for?"

"I'm not entirely sure." She looked at Isaac, shaking hands with the others, the ball held between his arm and ribs. "A few weeks at most, I think."

"Damn, they keep you moving all over the place, don't they?"

She scoffed and shook her head, glancing back at the marine walking next to her. "You have no idea."

They met up with the others just in time for Cornerstone to finish making the introductions. Jasmine recognized all of the faces, even if she couldn't remember all of the names. She smiled and lifted a hand at the two other women in the group—Gunnery Chief Sarah Patel and the other woman who she thought was Operations Chief Melissa Ekhart. They broke into teams, and the game started.

* * *

Freshly showered, Jasmine sat down on her couch, laptop on the table in front of her. She opened the encrypted report Theodus sent her and began reviewing the emails and other bits of information she'd found on Cerberus for what had to be at least the fifteenth time. She'd spent hours poring over those same pieces of intel, and it still didn't have her anywhere closer to understanding what exactly Cerberus did, or why the Alliance worked to keep it hidden. She needed to find another source of information, something discreet, and from someone she could trust. Someone she wouldn't get into trouble by dragging them into her mess. But who?

She sighed, pulling the computer to her lap as she leaned back against the cushions. Fingers resting motionless on the keys, she stared at the screen. There were always information brokers, but she'd hardly file them under the 'trust' category. Maybe she should ask Isaac if he knew anything? Ha. No. That would be a class A idiotic move. For all she really knew about her new handler, he could be a part of whatever it was Leon talked about in his confession vid. Even if he wasn't, chances were he wouldn't be too happy to learn she'd been sticking her nose in places it shouldn't be. He might even report her to his superiors.

She could ask Ares, but he really didn't need attention brought to him anymore than she did. Hell, she really should message him or something either way. She hadn't spoken to him or even been on ' _Assassins Unveiled'_  since before her arrest. Isaac did say he wanted her to establish her own contacts. Who better than another assassin? She should really go back over the posts made by ' _BioticBabe'_ , too. Even if it was just an online persona, it might give her some insight into her new handler, the man behind the screen name.

She bit her lip, knowing she was just letting herself get distracted. It wasn't like she was making any progress, though, either. So, she'd just send Ares a quick message, then back to racking her brain trying to think of a way to find answers. She'd look over Isaac's posting habits later. Splitting her screen, she logged into ' _Assassins Unveiled'_ and went into her inbox. Her eyebrows twitched, finding a few messages already waited for her.

The oldest came from Ares himself, dated three months ago. It read simply, " _I'm headed back to the Citadel. I'll be there tomorrow night. Meet me at Chora's, if you're still around?"_

She clicked on reply and wrote, " _Sorry, I was … in a bit of trouble. Didn't have access to my omni-tool or the extranet. Message me, personally, when you get this?"_

The next message, surprisingly, carried Thane's username, ' _WhatIsThePointOfThis'_. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the date, just a few weeks before the end of her sentence. She clicked on the message, and it read, " _I don't know when, or even if, you'll ever read this. I suppose it's foolish to even send you a message here, but I find myself revisiting this extranet site in your absence, just to read the words written by your hand. I can recall each letter as easily as anything else, but it soothes me, somehow, seeing them in front of me and knowing they are real. I miss you, siha, and I eagerly await the day you find me again. I must believe you will find me again."_

Heart warming as she thought about how much she must mean to him—how much he meant to her, she grinned and responded to the message, " _I will always find you. If you ever start to doubt that, come read this again. I love you, and I will find you."_

The last message came from Isaac, just a couple of days before. He must've had the same idea she did, going back and reading over her old posts to get a better feel for her. She opened the message and read, " _Damn, you're really kind of mean to me on here, aren't you?"_

" _And I'll keep being mean to you on here so long as 'BioticBabe' continues to be an illiterate shit-talker. Gotta keep up appearances!"_ she responded.

She logged out of ' _Assassins Unveiled'_ with a sigh, and opened a new browsing page. She typed in 'pro-human groups'. Since searching for 'Cerberus' didn't give her anything other than ancient mythology, maybe broadening the search might help. It didn't surprise her for Terra Firma to pop up first in the search. They'd been in the news several times over the years; the first she remembered hearing about them happened while she was still in basic. Some big scandal involving the leader of the group led to them holding an election for her replacement. They hit the news again a few months later when one of the candidates, the man ahead in the polls, died. There were a lot of rumors and speculation revolving around his death for quite some time.

The last she heard about Terra Firma, they opened a petition to have xenolinguistics and xenobiology classes removed from school curriculum. How, exactly, they thought such actions would keep humanity strong, she didn't know. Even if humanity  _was_  stronger standing alone—which she didn't believe to be the case—keeping the people ignorant of the other species couldn't be anything but a weakness in Jasmine's eyes. Still, Terra Firma didn't really hold to the idea of secrecy. She doubted Cerberus was a part of Terra Firma, but it didn't really hurt to look when she was so desperate for answers. She clicked on the link for the organization's homepage.

After an hour of reading through pages after pages of bullshit propaganda just shy of being blatant xenophobic rhetoric, something finally stood out: a reference to an attack on the  _SSV Geneva_  in 2165 where a group named Cerberus received blame. Her breath caught in her throat, and she rushed to keep reading, but it was the only mention to Cerberus she found. It was something, though.

She went back to her original search and typed in 'attack on the  _SSV Geneva_  in 2165'. If Cerberus made the news, it shouldn't be so difficult to locate something on them. Whoever they were, though, they seemed well equipped at clearing the extranet of mentions of their name. They missed one, though, and with a little luck, they missed others.

* * *

Thane set down on the edge of his bed and opened his omni-tool. He sent a message to Jasmine, asking if it was a good time to call before wiping it from his account. Her response came a moment later when his omni-tool vibrated, announcing an incoming call. Smiling, he accepted the call, leaning back against his pillows. "Hello, siha. How are things?"

"I found something on Cerberus," she blurted out, eyes wide and filled with excitement.

"Oh?" Cerberus didn't make the list of topics he'd hoped to discuss with her before bed, but he was happy to speak with her either way.

"Yeah, so, I found mention of them on the Terra Firma site. Apparently, back in 2165, they attacked the  _SSV Geneva_ , trying to get their hands on antimatter." She scooted to the edge of her couch, appearing to have called him from her laptop in her living room. Waving her hands as she spoke, her speech came rapidly, almost frantic in her enthusiasm. "So, I searched for articles about the  _SSV Geneva_ thinking I might find more on Cerberus. But I couldn't. Yeah, there were articles about the  _Geneva_  and about the attack, but every mention of who attacked the ship was scrubbed clean." She waved her hand through the air, seeming to dismiss her line of thought.

"I kept digging, though, and I found another mention of Cerberus on the Asari Republics News Network." Her head bobbed from side to side. "Well, sort of, in 2169 an asari escaped a facility, hiding in the cargo hold of a ship to get off planet. They drugged her out of her mind, and by the time she got back to Thessia, she couldn't tell anyone what really happened to her of where she'd been." She licked her lips, leaning in a little closer, and raised her eyebrows. "After years of therapy, she finally revealed her captors to be humans, and she said she heard them refer to someone named 'the Illusive Man.'"

"The man Leon warned his father about." Thane mulled over the information she bombarded him with, trying to understand why Cerberus might abduct an asari, or even what they might want with antimatter, though that covered a wider range of possibilities.

"Exactly." She nodded, a one-sided smile spreading over her lips. "The people who held her were testing some sort of biotic suppressant on her and other asari in the facility. She described seeing a symbol on the walls … here, I'll send you a copy of the image." She leaned in, her gaze leaving his as her hands ran over her keyboard. "There," she said, looking back up. "I did a search on the symbol, and I found a site—no name, just a picture of the symbol, rotating on the screen. I clicked on it, and it asked for a code. I'm pretty sure I can hack into it, but I'm hesitant to do it from anything which could be traced back to me or the Alliance in any way. Tomorrow, after Isaac's done with me, I think I'm going to head to one of the extranet cafés."

Unease tightened the muscles along his spine. He didn't want to doubt her, but it felt like she might be getting in over her head, and he couldn't handle it if he lost her again. "Perhaps you should ask Theodus instead. He excels at these things, and it won't be traced to you."

She frowned, her shoulders folding in on themselves as she tucked her forearms in against her waist, trapping them between her abdomen and her thighs. "I don't really want to risk getting anyone else in trouble."

"I understand your hesitancy, but I assure you, he's the better choice for this than an extranet café. He knows how to avoid detection." Thane tilted his head, desperately wishing they were having the conversation in person where he might better be able to sway her through touch, taking her hands in his or perhaps brushing his knuckles along her cheek. "Please, siha, I worry about you. I know you're more than capable of taking care of yourself, but I will always be concerned for your safety, and these people sound dangerous."

She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again, sending her hair fluttering around her face. "Alright. I'll call him." She watched him for a moment, seeming deflated until a slow smile spread across her face. "I found your message on ' _Assassins Unveiled.'_ "

He smiled, pleased she'd agreed to do as he asked and more than happy to change the subject. "Ah, yes. I confess it helped me to feel a little closer to you while you were gone. I … I hated not knowing where you were or what happened to you."

She reached out, the tips of her fingers coming toward the camera and then disappearing from view, leaving him to think she traced the image of his face on her screen. "Those were some of the longest, hardest months of my life. I missed you so much." Dropping her hand, she tucked her arm back into her lap. "I miss you now."

"And I you." He studied her face, taking in the darkening of the skin beneath her eyes and wondered if she was getting enough sleep. "Aside from tracking Cerberus and your training, are you well?"

"Yeah. I'm good." She shrugged, the corner of her mouth turning down a hair as she sat back against the couch. "Just wishing you were here. How about you? How are things going?"

"I had dinner with Kolyat tonight at his house," Thane said, still taking in the details of her face as he spoke. His hands remembered of their own accord, what it felt like to trace the path of muscle and tendon along her neck and shoulder, feeling her skin beneath his fingertips. He blinked, gently nudging away the memories before they consumed him. "Drali showed up—apparently it's something he does frequently around dinner time—it was good to see him. He, ah—he said some things to Kolyat that I think might have helped to warm him to the reality of our relationship. Kolyat and I talked afterwards, and he seems to be coming around to the idea. I suppose time will tell."

"That's a relief." She leaned forward again, restlessness made obvious with her constant movements as she braced one of her elbows on her knee and held her chin in her palm.

He wondered if she might be struggling with something more, cravings for red sand, perhaps. The night she'd shown up at his door, after running from him in the warehouse where she'd killed a red sand dealer, she'd looked just as exhausted. It was as if she couldn't sit still, couldn't focus her mind. Red sand would be easy for her to find on the Citadel, if she decided to go looking. Of all the battles he might be able to fight for her, though, addiction wasn't one. He'd always be there for her to talk to if she needed someone to listen, and she knew as much.

"Indeed." He nodded, reaching behind him to support his head on his forearm. "And I believe I only have another two weeks at most before my doctor discharges me from the rehabilitation center."

The news brought a smile to her face and a spark of something else to her eyes. "You going to stick around a little while after you're released?"

"Perhaps for a few days but nothing more. I've been away from work for too long, I feel restless, almost lost with nothing to do. No way to apply my skills." He smiled, watching her rainforest eyes as her gaze traveled over him, hungry and appraising. "And I have an assassin to track down, give her another chance to 'kick my ass.'"

She stuck the tip of her smallest finger in her mouth, trapping it between her teeth and let out a wistful sigh. Even though she was lightyears away, and the image he saw before him was nothing but a representation of the woman he loved, he felt his frills heat with the way she looked at him, devouring him with her eyes. Perhaps it wasn't her addiction to narcotics she struggled with, but her longing for him. It pleased him to think she might miss his touch as much as he missed hers.

Grinning, she pulled her finger from her mouth. "She might have other things in mind, first."

His fingers closed into a fist, remembering the feel of her hair sliding between his fingers, using his hold to angle her head, exposing her throat to his tongue and teeth. "Indeed," he said, the increased rasp to his voice not lost on his ears. "I hoped she might."

She scraped her teeth over her lip. "You're in bed."

He let out a soft chuckle, curious as to where her statement of the obvious lead. Knowing the spark of mischief in her eyes meant she'd likely try to get an embarrassed reaction from him, he braced himself for her to say something bawdy. "I am."

"Are you … how did you put it?" She hummed, her gaze drifting over what little of him that her eyes could see. "Going to make love to me tonight and fall asleep with me in your arms?"

The words themselves, words he'd spoken to her before, didn't fuel the heat he felt in his frills, but the sultry tone of her voice as she said them certainly did. He swallowed, feeling his arousal spread. He doubted he'd be able to keep himself from indulging in those memories after speaking with her, even if he wanted to, which he most certainly did not. "Perhaps."

"Mmm. I envy you and your perfect memories." She sighed again, leaning back against the cushion. Running her fingers along the collar of her shirt, she smiled. "I guess I'll just have to make due with my inadequate human memories," she said, undoing the top button before moving down to the next. "Unless I can convince you to show me what I'm missing." She arched an eyebrow, fingers lingering over the next button. "Do you want to see if your memories hold up?"

He swallowed again, his gaze moving back to the expanse of exposed skin. What exactly was she offering? What was she asking him to do? Surely she didn't intend ….

"Thane?"

His gaze snapped back to hers, lips parted as he corralled his straying thoughts. "I … yes." He hesitated, clearing his throat. "I do."


	14. Troubling Thoughts

**Troubling Thoughts**

Jasmine opened her omni-tool, tapping the screen to access her inbox. She eyed the extranet address for a second before opening the single message in her inbox—Ares.

" _If you're in trouble, you should be off the grid and not surfing the extranet. What are you doing on 'Assassins Unveiled'? You alright, need anything?"_

She snorted. Exactly what she needed. Yet another assassin with a few extra years in the field telling her she wasn't doing her job right. She hit reply and wrote, " _Nah, trouble's passed. Well, it seems to have anyway. Long story short, I spent some time in a cell, and now I have a new handler. What about you, anything interesting in the last few months?"_

She hit send and then switched over to the vidcall feature, dialing in Theodus' number. A wide smile swept over her face when the snow white drell answered, blinking his blood red eyes at her as he sipped from a steaming mug.

"Jasmine, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He stifled a yawn against the back of one hand and took another sip.

"Did I call at a bad time?" she asked, taking in the slack look to his features.

"Not at all. I'm just waking up. Forgive me, I'm not what you'd call a morning person." He set the cup down and adjusted his screen, shifting her view enough for her to see a dimly lit living room behind him.

She thought it interesting he'd let her see anymore of his home—well, she assumed it was his home—than the bits of his office she'd seen before, but she'd think on it later. "Ah. Yeah, me neither. Well, I did some more digging and came across an extranet site I believe belongs to Cerberus. It requires a code to access, and although I'm fairly certain I can hack it myself, I'm hesitant to do anything potentially traced back to me. I planned to go to an extranet café, but Thane urged me to have you do it instead."

Theodus scoffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Seriously? An extranet café?" He shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous."

She pursed her lips and sucked on her teeth, letting out a slow hiss. "You know … you really don't need to be an ass about it. I've used extranet cafés without problem in the past."

He smirked. "Then you should supply me with times, dates, and locations so I can remove the evidence such ventures undoubtedly left behind. All for a reasonable price, of course." Picking his mug back up, his grin widened as he sipped at the dark liquid within.

"Ha. No." She laughed, shaking her head. "I'm not exactly rich. But I'll keep that in mind. Besides, my memory just isn't good enough to recall those specifics."

"Pity, I could use the distraction," he said, letting out a heavy sigh.

Eyebrows inching up her forehead, she asked, "Distraction?"

He waved his hand, setting his cup back down. "Nothing to concern yourself with. So, you want me to get into this extranet site. Anything in particular I'll be looking for?"

"No, I just want you to get in so I can look around."

"I can do you one better and safer." The corner of his lip lifted in a smug smile. "I'll make an untraceable, temporary mirror of the site. It'll exist only on my off-site servers and will remove itself …" He waved his hand as if pulling a number out of thin air. "... within a week? I can always do it again if you require."

She arched an eyebrow, considering the offer for a moment. It certainly didn't sound like a bad idea, an off-site server would make it even harder to trace back to him if his 'untraceable' mirror of the site turned out to be not-so-untraceable. "How much more will it cost me?"

He lifted a shoulder. "A few hundred credits, it doesn't take much longer to do. You're mostly paying for the server space and at a bargain," he said, taking on a teasing tone, "because I like you."

Huffing, she rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. Why do I not believe mirroring Cerberus' extranet site will take up all that much of  _your_  server space?"

He flashed his teeth at her in a Cheshire Cat grin. "Oh, it won't, but it's hardly the point, is it? It is  _my_  server space, after all. You won't find anywhere safer to store data."

"Alright, alright." She chuckled, beginning to feel a little fond of the cocksure drell. "I'm sending you the extranet address now, do your thing, work your magic and send me the bill."

"Excellent. I should have it ready for you in an hour or so." He sipped at his drink, gaze still fixed on her, but his smile became a thing of the past. "Don't suppose you'll answer another personal question for me?"

She pursed her lips, remembering the last time he asked her a personal question he learned she and Thane were involved romantically. "That depends, what's the question?"

He watched her for a moment, thoughts just beyond the range of visibility as they churned in his head. "What will you do with this information, once you learn what ties the Alliance has to Cerberus?"

She sucked in a deep breath and let it trickle back out of her. What would she do? "I don't honestly know. I guess I'll have to wait and see what exactly I find." She shrugged and smiled. "Your turn. What are you needing a distraction from?"

He chuckled, setting his mug down once again and turned in his chair, giving her his profile as he ran a hand over his face. "I'm waiting to see if the information I provided another client got them killed or not. I warned them of the dangers, and I advised them against their planned course of action, but I don't believe they heeded my warnings." He stared off towards his living room for a moment, and she wondered if he fought to keep from recalling the conversation aloud.

"Ouch. That's rough." And, because she didn't want to sound  _completely_ asinine, she added, "Sounds like you did all you could, though. I assume they're an adult and are going to make their own decisions … the consequences are theirs and theirs alone."

He glanced at her. "No, I don't work with children." Turning back in his chair, he faced her directly. "I did, for awhile when I was younger, but it mostly amounted to changing grades on school servers and helping lovesick fools gather information on the objects of their affections." He smiled, but it appeared forced. "This client is most certainly an adult, and as you said, the choice is theirs to make. And yet, I'd feel culpable if they died."

She blew out a heavy breath, letting it puff out her cheeks. "When will you know something?"

"They should be calling me this evening." He picked up his cup again, but only stared at it as if it held some answers for him.

"Hmmm." She pursed her lips, scrunching up her nose. "I can always send you a list of vid suggestions you can occupy yourself with."

He laughed, the sound hollow, but he seemed to relax a little. "That might not be a bad idea."

* * *

"Sere Naura, everything looks wonderful. I am scheduling your release for ten days from today." Dr. Sheal sat her datapad down on the table next to his reclining chair. "I will send you all of the relevant information you will need to continue on with your treatments, including details about the medications, return visits, and suggested lifestyle changes. Before you leave, we will work out a schedule for follow up appointments." She eyed the machines a moment before bending to slip the IV from Thane's arm and pressed a piece of light gauze to the drop of blood welling up between his scales. "It is very important for you to keep these appointments, especially over the next year while the damaged lung tissue continues to regenerate and strengthen."

Thane dipped his head when she glanced up, meeting his gaze. "Of course, you have my thanks, Dr. Sheal. It has been most pleasant working with you." Taking over for the doctor, he pressed his fingers to the gauze.

She smiled, straightening and retrieved her datapad to record readouts from the machines in his file. "I am glad to hear you think so. I will return to the facility on the day of your release, in the meantime, as always, if you find you need to speak with me, please do not hesitate to call."

"Thank you, I will, should I find need." He lifted the gauze, checking to see if the bleeding stopped, and finding it had, he tossed the gauze in the trash. Standing, he claimed his jacket from the hook next to the door and slid it on, tugging the lapels into place. He tucked his hands behind his back and waited to see if the doctor needed him for anything more.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Have a good day, Sere Naura."

"And you as well, Doctor." Thane dipped his head again before turning and opening the door. He left the small medical room and made his way down the hall, nodding at one of the nurses as he passed her on his way to his private room.

"Sere Naura?"

He stopped, turning to look over his shoulder at the nurse. He recognized her but didn't know her name, having not dealt with her directly. "Yes?"

"Someone came here looking for you about an hour ago." She glanced down before shifting some datapads around and opening her omni-tool.

"Indeed?" Thane glanced around him before moving back to stand in front of the nurse.

Her fingers ran over the holographic keys of her omni-tool, brow furrowing as she worked. "He did not give me a name, but he left a message for you."

"I see." He opened his omni-tool to accept the file when she looked at him expectantly. He expected it to be something she would simply repeat to him, but as soon as he received the file, he understood: it was locked and most likely encrypted. Whoever they were, they must've prepared the file to pass to the nurse, and clearly it contained something they didn't want anyone else to see. Glancing back at the nurse, he dipped his head. "My thanks."

She closed her omni-tool and returned the gesture. "You are most welcome." Shifting her datapads back into a more controllable position, she turned and walked down the hall before disappearing into one of the medical rooms.

Thane glanced back down at the message before closing the omni-tool, acutely aware of his heart thundering in his chest. He glanced around again, but the only people he saw were nurses, attendants, and residents of the rehabilitation center. All known quantities. Still, if someone watched him, there might be a small chance they didn't know exactly which room belonged to him, and he held no inclination to lead them to the place he rested.

Pulling his battle sleep firmly around himself like Colossus heavy armor, his heart stilled. He turned and made his way down the hall, instead of turning right to head toward his personal room, he turned left and exited the building. His weapons were all in his room, but he wouldn't be one of the best if he relied solely on guns and knives to protect himself. The dim light of day filtered through the triangular windows making up the domed city, the sounds of rain heavy on the glass.

_Kolyat._

The thought nearly shattered his battle sleep, two separate instincts warring within him. The Compact trained assassin told him to lead whomever might be following him to someplace secluded, preferably dark. The father told him to run to his son and stand guard, destroy any who dared to threaten Kolyat's safety. Both knew such an act might only invite trouble to find the boy, though. He didn't even dare to call Rone to warn him as a precaution, bringing  _any_ attention to his family was dangerous.

Without hesitation, he kept walking, making his way to the grand doors closest to him and left the protection of the domed city. The humidity tightened a vise around his lungs and throat the second he stepped outside, but he didn't pause. By the time he reached the taxi stand, he breathed easier, the pain dissipating completely within a few more breaths even as the rain pelted him in fat drops. Climbing inside one of the skycars, he set coordinates for a few kilometers inland, away from the domed city, to a series of caves long since mined and abandoned.

When the cab lifted into the air, he opened his omni-tool again and called Theodus. The moment the other drell's face filled the screen, Thane said, "I'm sending you a file. I need it opened immediately."

"Ah, I was watching—"

"Now." Thane all but snarled at the man, his fingers still moving over the keys to forward the file. "My apologies. I can't take the time to open it myself, I need to know what's inside right away. I may be followed."

Seriousness shifted Theodus' features into a tight mask of understanding. He turned fully to the screen, hands poised over the keyboard. Within a few seconds of Thane sending the file, Theodus hands moved over the keys, determination and concentration tugging his brow ridges inward.

A solid minute passed before Theodus smirked, meeting Thane's gaze again. "Got it. It looks like a dossier …."

A dossier? Who would use a nurse to pass him a dossier? Why not just contact him directly if they wished to offer him a contract? "Send it back to me."

A few keystrokes later and Thane's omni-tool pinged with the new message. He opened the dossier, scanning the details as quickly as possible while he tried to make sense of what he saw. The image showed an olive-scaled drell female. The information provided named her Sahnira Lenost and showed her age as twenty-four years old. It gave the address for her home and work on Enkindler's Pass, but it said nothing of who passed the information on to him or why; he assumed whoever they were wanted Sahnira Lenost dead.

He glanced up, meeting Theodus' waiting gaze. "Thank you. I'll forward your payment right away and call if I need anything else."

Brow furrowed, mouth a thin, tight line, Theodus nodded. "Stay safe, Krios."

"Indeed." He cut the call, returning his attention to the dossier as he sent payment to his contact, the vague message taunting him.

When the skycar's navigation system chimed, alerting him that he neared his destination, Thane closed the omni-tool and prepared for descent. The taxi settled down near the entrance to the mines, and he scanned the area through the windshield before opening the door. Staying low to use the vehicle for cover, he crept out of the skycar and swept his gaze over the sky. He spotted a dark speck against the dreary, gray clouds, growing larger with each passing second. Using the low brush as cover, he disappeared into the trees along the mountain's edge. Whoever followed him, with a little luck, might believe he entered the mines. He'd wait and watch from the shadows and then move in from behind.

A few moment later, a skycar landed next to his and a hooded figure stepped out. Thane couldn't tell from his vantage point whether the individual was male or female, but the flash of a green hand and the way the hood hung identified them as drell. They moved with caution and a deadly grace as they circled around to look into Thane's empty cab, leaving a sinking feeling to tug at his battle sleep. When they glanced his way, he found they'd covered their nose and mouth with a shemagh—a remnant from life on Rakhana, once used to protect from harsh winds and dust, now used to cut down on the amount of moisture inhaled—but it made it even more difficult for him to make out their features. He felt, however, fairly certain the drell was male.

The man looked around, seeming to attempt to penetrate the dense forests with his gaze before glancing at the mines. "There is no need for games, Krios," he called out, head staying in motion as he looked around.

The voice tugged at Thane's memories, digging deep into years of the distant past.

_Rain rolls down my face, chilling my scales and leaving my insides shuddering. It soaks my clothes, fills my shoes. I long for the dry warmth of the dormitory, to collapse on my cot and pull the covers up to my chin. Night is beginning to fall, and my stomach is empty._

_He looks away, light from the lanterns catching on scales the darkest of greens and yellows. He blinks, a soft sigh escaping him. "Again, Krios. This is not a game. You will do it again and again, until you get it perfect."_

_My heart sinks. I find no pleasure in this, it is most certainly not a game. I'm exhausted, but I know there is no rest to be had until I do as he asks. "As you wish."_

_I turn back to the obstacle course cut through the forest, climbing up the mountain side, and dipping down to the shores. I run, feet silent on the path laid out before me, each breath burning my lungs, my sides cramp, but I keep moving. Into the trees, I glance around, mapping the area once more, perhaps there is something I missed. Something to help. Nothing. I move between trees to hide myself from site. Crouching low, I make my way forward and leap, catching the lowest branch to pull myself up, bark rough and digging into my fingers. "I see you, Krios. Again."_

Thane blinked, forcing away the memories. "Rah'kira." Hesitating only a moment, he pushed himself from a crouch, moving a little closer. Each step carefully chosen, he made no sounds as he moved back through the trees, keeping himself hidden. "Why have you followed me?" He called out, back pressed to a tree. He couldn't see Rah'kira, but neither could Rah'kira see him. Listening, he strained to hear any sounds of movement.

"Come out of hiding, child, and speak with me." Rah'kira's voice came from closer, only six meters or so to Thane's left and a couple of meters toward the forest's edge. He'd come into the treeline, and Thane knew his former trainer waited for him to speak again in order to track his location.

Thane remained hidden, listening and waiting. He'd issued his question, either Rah'kira wished to speak with Thane enough he'd answer or he wouldn't, but either way, Thane had no intentions of revealing himself until he understood why a ghost from his past had come to haunt him. He felt no love for Rah'kira, a man he once trusted with his life but who rejected him when he felt most lost and in need of guidance. Why should Thane's wellbeing mean anything to him now?

Silence stretched on for long moments until finally Rah'kira spoke again, "You are the only I know of who has left the Compact … and I find I require the services of one such as yourself." He'd moved closer, close enough for the slightest movement from Thane to immediately give away his location. More silence. "I trust you viewed the information I gave you." Closer still, almost within reach …. "I wished to tell you the rest in person."

Thane turned, darting toward Rah'kira, fingers folding into a fist as he struck out. The older assassin was ready for him, though; Rah'kira was  _always_ ready for him. Brushing aside Thane's strike as if he were still a boy yet to master the skills of his art, Rah'kira twisted, spinning as he aimed his elbow at Thane's spine. Bending at the waist, Thane let the blow move over him before stepping to the side.

"Such an arrangement would go against the Compact," Thane said, pressing forward with three quick blows, just as easily avoided and knocked aside, before sliding in behind the man.

Rah'kira turned with Thane, not giving him the access he sought, and aimed a kick at Thane's hip, forcing Thane to retreat. Rah'kira hissed his disapproval. "I do not need you to tell me how the Compact works, child." He advanced on Thane, his hand lashing out at blinding speed toward Thane's face, open-palmed.

Jerking his head back, Thane felt the air shift in front of his nose as he avoided the slap meant for his cheek. The insult of such a move stung worse than the blow likely would've, then again, twenty-two years ago, the blow would've landed. Rah'kira's eyes narrowed a fraction, and he continued his assault, a palm strike aimed at Thane's chest. He turned, Rah'kira's hand meeting open air, and then his fingers wrapped around his once-mentor's forearm. Rah'kira flowed with the movement, hip jutting into Thane's, throwing him off balance while Rah'kira broke his grip.

Thane rolled over the forest floor, fallen branches and rocks digging into his back and side, before hopping to his feet. "Then perhaps you'll explain to me why one as renowned as yourself would risk such dishonor."

"Certainly," Rah'kira said, pushing Thane back against a tree with his onslaught, "as soon as you are finished proving yourself a man."

"You are both children wallowing in the muck."

Thane and Rah'kira both froze, turning as one toward the feminine voice, hoarse and graveled with age. The moment Thane saw Alahana, his battle sleep slipped away, and he lowered his gaze, folding himself over in a low bow. He didn't need to look to know Rah'kira did the same. Despite no longer owing allegiance to the Compact, Thane found he simply couldn't deny his old den mother the respect she deserved.

He didn't look up until he felt a warm hand caress the top of his head, an invitation to meet her gaze. " _Nara_  Stelak, my apologies. I did not know you were here." Straightening, he brushed away a wet leaf clinging to his sleeve and tucked his hands behind his back.

She smiled, brushing her hand over Rah'kira's head, but kept her gaze locked on his. She unwound her shemagh, peeling away a second cloth and handed it to Thane before wrapping the first back around herself, tugging it up over her mouth and nose. "You should not be outside, Thane, least of all without something to protect your face from the rain." She glanced over her shoulder. "Come, let us retreat to these mines you chose to stage this display of yours and speak of Sahnira."

"Yes, of course,  _Nara_  Stelak." Thane wrapped the shemagh around his neck, pulling it into place over the lower half of his face, the old, familiar scent of Alahana filling his lungs, bringing him comfort even after so many years.

* * *

Jasmine looked over the extranet site, ultimately it didn't really tell her much of use, other than Cerberus apparently offered extremely good benefits packages and had openings in several departments ranging from scientific research to janitorial. In the end, it left her just as frustrated and with as many questions as when she started. Still, Theodus gave her access to it for a week, she might as well put the time to use and dig in as deep as she could get, maybe something on the extranet site would lead her to something else.

Her omni-tool vibrated against her wrist, and she tore her gaze away from the laptop. Opening the device, she found another message from Ares.

" _Hm … Revenge? That's really the only thing different in my usual of sex and killing people."_

Jasmine cocked an eyebrow. Huh, so he'd manage to get his man. Good for him. She smiled and hit reply. " _How does it feel?"_

She turned her attention back to the mirrored Cerberus site and clicked on the link for their manifesto again. Something about it gnawed at the back of her mind, a thought half formed and elusive, yet persistent enough to demand she take notice. Phrases like 'any means necessary' set her teeth on edge when dealing with a group who clearly held no fondness for the idea of working cooperatively with alien races, especially after learning they'd abducted and experimented on asari. What were they looking for, and just how far did 'any means necessary' really go? The thing with the asari …. Something told Jasmine it wasn't the first or the last of its kind. Surely the Alliance didn't know about the experiments, they wouldn't cover for something so blatantly criminal. Then again … they did train and employ assassins.

_They use us to put a stop to things like this, though. But … what_ if  _the Alliance_ does  _know about this?_

Her mouth dried, tongue feeling thick and sticky in her mouth. No. No way. She swallowed, hot, sour saliva replacing the Sahara in her mouth as her stomach churned. It can't … just no way. Standing before she even realized she meant to, she raked a shaking hand through her hair, pulling chunks free from her ponytail in the process. She paced back and forth in front of her couch, tugging out her hair tie only to drag her hands through her hair again.

_Jesus Christ. The Alliance_ can't  _be_ supporting  _these sorts of experiments. Holy fuck. Dear God, please tell me this isn't what Leon meant. It can't be._

She needed to calm the hell down. She didn't have any solid evidence to be letting herself get so worked up. Rubbing her hands over her face, she took a deep breath. She wished Thane were there. Glancing at the time, she narrowed her eyes, trying to do the time difference calculations in her head and finally decided he was probably still in his treatments. She pulled her hair back again, securing it in a ponytail and glanced at the door. Maybe she should talk to Isaac. She didn't need to tell him everything she'd learned so far, but she could at least ask him a question or two. Something lowkey that wouldn't rouse suspicion ….

Scraping her teeth over her lip, she said, "Fuck it." Jasmine made her way next door and rang the buzzer, still mulling over what she'd say when he answered the door.

Dressed in nothing but loose-fitting, gym shorts, Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Aw, damn, I thought you were my dinner being delivered." He stepped back, clearing the way for her.

Her gaze drifted to his bare chest where blatant, yet fading, stab wound and bullet hole scars peppered his torso. "That's what the security feed is for." She stepped inside, turning to wait for him to close the door. "I mean, there might've been an assassin out there, and you just let those doors slide right open." She threw her arms out to the sides as she spoke, smirking.

Laughing, he waved her further into the apartment. "Alright, smartass. What's up? Or did you just come over to talk shit and stare at my chest? Because, I know …" He shrugged, moving past her to turn around and face her, hands held out to the sides. "... I'm sexy and all, but you do nothing for me."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes even though she smirked. "Yep, I got it, you like dick. Welcome to the club." Shifting her weight to one hip, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Though, I'm telling you, you're missing out on the other half. There's nothing as beautiful as looking up at a woman from between her legs while she has an orgasm."

Isaac let out a guffaw, doubling over with his mirth. A moment later, he straightened only to lean back, arms wrapped around his stomach as he continued to laugh. "Damn, you've got spirit." He shook his head, still letting out the occasional giggle. "I'll have to take your word on it, though. I don't want anything to do with what you women have going on down there."

She grinned, liking the 'off duty' version of Isaac. Not to say she didn't enjoy his company while working, he wasn't exactly gruff or stern with her then, but the more she got to know him, the more he relaxed around her during downtime. "I was checking out your collection of scars." She pointed to one she thought looked particularly lethal, a bullet hole though his left pectoral. "Looks like you should be dead a couple times over."

Glancing down, he lifted a hand to run his fingers over the scar. "Yeah … I had a few close calls in my early years." He picked up a tank top draped over a barstool and slid it on, all traces of humor evaporating.

_Okay, so we're still not quite there yet. I get it, I won't press._

She waved a hand at him, arms crossed over her chest shifting into something more like a self-embrace. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you feel self-conscious or whatever."

_I really shouldn't be here._

He flashed rows of perfect, white teeth at her. "Ah, nah, I'm just being respectful in the presence of a lady."

She snorted. "Uh huh."

Leaning against the counter, one ankle crossed over the other, his gaze roamed over her for a minute, smile slowly slipping away. "What's wrong, Shepard?" His spine seemed to stiffen, face taking on a neutral cast looking so natural she almost believed it wasn't carefully constructed.

She pursed her lips and took a deep breath, moving to perch on one of the barstools next to him. "When we first met, you said you'd read the file on Leon's death …."

He nodded. "Yeah, and?"

Watching him, she took her time, picking over her words. "Did you see the vid they found on his omni-tool?"

He turned a little, body language relaxing, opening back up as he shook his head. "No, just read the transcript in the file." Brow furrowing he glanced down, shaking his head again. "Pretty brutal. Calloused. The way he laid you out on display like that …."

His sympathetic gestures weren't lost on her and distantly she appreciated his concern, but it wasn't what she'd come to talk about. There were far more serious, pressing things she needed to know, and she needed to get on with it before she changed her mind. She opened her mouth, about to ask about Leon's last words when the door buzzer rang and she sighed.

"Sorry, give me just a minute." Isaac pushed away from the counter and made his way back to the door.

She followed him with her gaze, watching as he checked the security feed before opening the door, noting the bulge of a firearm at his back she never saw him pick up but didn't see there a moment before. Maybe talking to him wasn't such a good idea. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as he paid for his dinner, accepting the takeout bag from the asari before closing the door again.

Glancing inside as he turned and started walking back to her, he brought the bag up closer to his face and took a deep breath. "Mmm. Smells good." He took it into the kitchen and sat it on the counter before opening a drawer.

She watched him over the island, still debating on whether or not to pick the conversation back up again or make some excuse and leave. He turned back to her, carrying the delivery and two forks along with him. Opening the bag, he sat a container down on the placemat in front of her and then put a fork on top. Jasmine smiled. He acted as if feeding her was just a given, and it eased some of the tension she carried in her shoulders. She hated to admit it, but she gave him extra kudos for the 'eat out of the box' mentality.

"I'll grab us some water." He barely glanced at her as he turned back, making his way to the refrigerator. "Or do you want tea?" He looked over his shoulder when she didn't answer right away. "What's the smile for?"

She shrugged, willing herself to trust the genuineness of the moment. "Tea sounds good."

"Cool." He pulled out two glasses from the cabinet and filled them with tea from a pitcher in the refrigerator before finally sitting down across from her. "So, why ask about the vid?" Isaac asked, situating another container in front of himself and popping it open, letting out steam and the savory aroma of seared meat and vegetables.

Stalling, Jasmine picked up her fork and opened her own container, mouth watering at the smell. "Uh, well … Langston showed it to me but not the whole thing." She glanced at him as she stirred her food around, trying to release a little more of the heat before she took a bite. "Leon said I'm loyal to a fault but only because I didn't know something yet. Langston cut it off there, I'd already seen what she wanted me to see." She forced herself to shrug. "I just want to know what he said."

Isaac cocked his head to the side, lips pursed and shifting in the opposite direction. "I don't recall anything about that in the transcripts."

She didn't say anything, not trusting her voice, just gave him a dismissive shrug as she turned her attention back to her food, scooping up the mixture of a boiled, rice-like grain, red meat, and strips of some sort of pepper. Either he told her the truth, and they kept it from him, too, or he lied to her. Neither option led to the answers she wanted. Granted, whatever Leon said might be considered classified and stricken from the records, but either way, Isaac was under no obligation to tell her something Langston didn't want her to know.

"Hey," he said, drawing her gaze back to him. He watched her for a second, eyebrows raised. When he spoke again, his voice sounded low and gentle, soothing. "I'm not saying I don't believe you, Shepard. It just wasn't in anything I saw. But I feel you, this thing is still eating away at you, so I'll request a copy of the vid. Alright?"

She nodded, glancing back down at her fork. "Thanks."

* * *

Thane watched as Rah'kira held on to Alahana's elbow, guiding her through the cave to a recess in the stone where she could sit. The dim light barely reached so far into the mines, but still, he saw them well enough. Alahana settled down and turned her attention to Thane, wise eyes appraising him.

"I did not expect to ever see you on Kahje again." She folded her hands in her lap. "I did not get the chance to tell you how truly sorry I was to have learned of your wife's death."

"I—thank you." He tucked his hands behind his back, fingers curling into a fist.

He didn't want to talk about Irikah, especially not with Rah'kira present. The other drell turned his back on Thane when he left the Compact to make a life with Irikah, he ceased to exist in Rah'kira's eyes—dishonored and forgotten, made drala'fa. Alahana was at least kind enough to express her regret in his choices but wished him Arashu's blessings. She was one of few drell he encountered in the Compact who held to the old gods, and she supported him in his religious path as a child in training. He'd always feel indebted to her kindness, both when he left the Compact and during his years spent under her guidance.

Alahana hummed, her gaze never leaving him. "It pleases me to see you happy again, Thane. The human seemed quite lovely, and you are speaking with your son once more."

"You have been watching me?" Ice slipped through his veins. He didn't distrust Alahana, but if she watched him, it most likely meant the Illuminated Primacy still carried an interest in him. Unsettling news, indeed. Beleno never mentioned anything of the sort to him, but his former handler's obligations laid with the interests of the Illuminated Primacy and not Thane's desire to know of their violations of his privacy.

Aging but still holding strong to her edge, Alahana tutted, eyes narrowing at Thane. "Of course I have … but not for the sake of the Illuminated Primacy as I am sure you suspect." She shifted a little, undoubtedly finding the cool, hard stone to be less than accommodating. "You are one of mine, whether you remained within the Compact or not. I have continued to be … invested in your life in your absence as well."

He swallowed, unease twisting his stomach into knots. What did Alahana mean 'invested', did she expect him to turn Kolyat over to the Compact? He wouldn't, Irikah never wanted a life bound to the Compact for their son. It was his right as Kolyat's father to refuse.

"If only I had been wise enough to see the need before sweet Irikah's death …." She sighed, giving him a remorseful shake of her head. "Still, your son does not go without protection."

Surprise arched his brow ridges, thoughts racing through his mind. If what she implied was true, if Alahana had taken it upon herself to guard Kolyat, then he was even more indebted to her than he realized. "You—You watchover Kolyat?"

"I do," Rah'kira spoke for the first time since Alahana revealed herself out among the trees. He lifted his chin, defiance filling his tone when Thane looked at him. "You abandoned the Compact, Krios. It did not abandon you. I cannot watch your son at all times, clearly, but there are others who know the child's life is valuable and must be preserved, even if they do not understand why."

"I … I don't know what to say." Thane turned, bowing low to Rah'kira. "You have my deepest gratitude."

"Yes, well …" Rah'kira bristled, adjusting the ends of his rain cloak over his shoulders. "... perhaps we should focus on why we wished to speak with you. Being outdoors is not good for Alahana. For you either, I suppose."

Frowning, Thane turned back to Alahana. " _Nara_ Stelak, you are unwell?"

"Indeed. I am afraid the disease went unnoticed for quite some time. The treatments you recieve now are useless for me. I am on transplant lists, but with my age and the progression of the disease … this is why I asked Rah'kira to reach out to you. I have only months left, and there is something I would very much like to see taken care of before I go to the sea."

"Sahnira Lenost." He nodded in understanding, pushing away his grief for a time when he might feel it in private. "You wish for this woman to die."

"I do. Perhaps I should not, we are but tools of the Compact, but the Illuminated Primacy has refused to take appropriate actions against Sahnira. I am forbidden, and by extension, all others who serve as I do, from ending Sahnira's life. You, however, no longer serve the Compact. You are free to do as your own conscious guides you, to accept whatever contracts you wish, as Beleno recently reminded me."

_Ah, so Beleno approves of this course of action. Reassuring, but still, it risked making an enemy out of the Illuminated Primacy._

He cleared his throat. "Forgive me for being so bold, but what has she done?"

Alahana looked down at her hands folded in her lap. She took so long to respond, Thane began to wonder if she intended answer. Eventually, she let out a dejected sigh and met his gaze once more. "She is my granddaughter, but she is known to have worked with mercenaries to abduct and sell other drell to the collectors. I have come to learn she is once again planning to do this terrible thing, and she will not be swayed otherwise."

Thane shook his head, processing what he just heard. He never even knew Alahana was a mother, let alone a grandmother. Oh, nothing within the Compact forbid such things, but few in the assassin factions rarely chose to reproduce, knowing it meant spending so much time separated from their children. After all, the Compact would soon come to an end if the families holding to the tradition didn't continue to have children of their own. Even he needn't have left the Compact to marry Irikah and have a family, but she convinced him early on to part ways with the hanar and make his own choices in life.

As much as his ignorance disturbed him, however, he found himself more troubled by the idea Alahana wished for him to kill her granddaughter. He'd accepted contracts on slavers before. Indeed, Beleno asked him to remove an elcor slaver on the Citadel not so long ago. He'd never encountered a drell taking captives, let alone one selling their own kind, but he supposed it shouldn't come as such a surprise. There were ruthless, heartless individuals in all the species—his was no exception.

Perhaps more interesting, the naming of collectors as the buyers; collectors were thought by most to be nothing but a myth. Yet if Alahana said it was so, then he found no reason to doubt the veracity of the statement. "The collectors … what do they want with drell?"

"I do not know." She shook her head. "This is not the first I have heard of their proclivity of …  _collecting_  members of other species."

He frowned, pacing a few steps with his hands tucked behind his back. "The Illuminated Primacy is allowing her to do this?"

"They have warned her against this, even incarcerated her for a time, but she has been released. They will not take action to prevent her from continuing to commit such crimes, only apprehend her once the deed is done." Alahana's gaze followed him as he moved. "I fear it will take the loss of countless drell before the Illuminated Primacy deems her worthy of being stopped permanently."

"I see." He stopped his pacing, coming to stand in front of her again. "This is troubling."

She watched him in silence for a moment, tension filling the atmosphere before she said, "I cannot say with certainty, but it seems the Illuminated Primacy is hesitant to interfere with the collector's activities, even at the cost of drell lives."

He raised a brow ridge. "Why do you believe this?"

"There are rumors," Rah'kira said, and by his tone, rumor is all he believed them to be, "claiming the collectors are evolutionary descendants of the last Enkindlers. While all other Enkindlers disappeared, it is thought a few, hermitted away beyond the Omega 4 Relay, continued to live in seclusion."

Thane blinked several times. He'd never heard any such claims, but he supposed it wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility. No one, aside from the collectors, ever traversed the Omega 4 Relay and returned to speak of what they learned. "Is there evidence to support these claims?"

Alahana sighed again, her gaze falling to her lap as she shook her head. "When they first arrested Sahnira, during interrogation, she claimed to be doing the will of the Enkindlers. She said the collectors commanded technology of the Enkindlers, and they showed her visions of the 'trials they endured to ascend to new glory.'"

Alahana cleared her throat, but it turned into a cough. Rah'kira moved to her side, kneeling before her as he produced a scrap of cloth from beneath his cloak and pressed it into her hand. She tugged her shemagh away from her face, gasping for breath before she lifted the handkerchief to her mouth; her coughing becoming alarmingly worse.

Thane moved to her side, pressing his knees against the cold, damp stone and took her free hand in between his. Bowing his head, he closed his eyes, letting the prayer whisper through his lips. "Arashu, mother to us all. Arashu, whose love knows no bounds, for without whose grace, we would all be lost and forsaken. Arashu, I ask you to give relief to this one, ease her pain and remove her suffering, soothe her soul, for she is not long from Kalahira's embrace." It surprised Thane when Rah'kira's voice joined his, knowing the other drell as a follower of the Enkindlers. "Arashu, this one has been faithful to all you teach us, showing love and compassion to those under her care. Protect her now, Arashu, as she has been a protector to us." Looking up as her coughing eased, he pretended not to see the bloodstain as she balled the cloth into her fist.

Alahana took a slow, deep breath, her voice cracking when she next spoke, "I do not know what happened to her. She spent time offworld, and when she returned, it was as if … her soul and mind had been broken." Sliding her hand free from Thane's, she offered him a reassuring smile and patted his cheek before waving both men to their feet. "I never knew her well, nor her mother—after La'ade was born, I sent her to live with her father until she became of an age to join the Compact—but the changes in Sahnira are unmistakable."

Thane stood and stepped back, but Rah'kira lingered next to Alahana. It pleased him to know in her last days, Alahana wouldn't be alone. Rah'kira had always been devoted to Alahana, but it appeared their bond only strengthened over the years. He would take good care of her.

"There is a darkness inside of her now, something corrupt and without redemption," she said after another deep, rattling breath. "She has been making trips to the Omega station in the Sahrabarik System, where I am told collectors are known to sometimes visit to make such transactions." Looking up, she sought Thane's gaze, her eyes hard and determined. "I understand your time on Kahje is nearing its end. Follow her to Omega, and end her, Thane. The Illuminated Primacy need never know of her fate. I do not ask this of you lightly, and I am not alone in my plea. Others, the families of her victims, are willing to pay whatever fees you might ask of them."

" _Nara_ Stelak," he said and then hesitated. "This woman is your kin, are you sure you want this?"

"I am." She gave him a decisive nod. "I did not make the choice without heartache and mourning, but I believe it must be done. I trust you to make it swift, and perhaps it will even be a mercy for her, for the Sahnira she once was."

Thane lowered his head, studying his feet in the dim light for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he met her gaze again. "Then I accept the contract."


	15. Life for an Assassin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ares belongs to squiggly_squid

**Life for an Assassin**

Jasmine watched as the vid played, her expression carefully neutral. Her insides squirmed with more emotions than she had any desire to feel for Leon: rage, betrayal, disgust, grief, and regret. Somewhere in there, threaded through it all, she still felt love—which only brought more disgust. The vid cut off, moments before he would've started talking about what she needed to hear.

Her gaze flicked to Isaac, and he shrugged. "What happened, where's the rest?"

"That's all they sent me." He leaned back against the counter, crossing one ankle over the other. "Whatever else it showed must be beyond my clearance." He watched her for a second and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I tried."

She blew out a heavy breath and propped her elbows on the table, cradling her face in her hands. "Yeah, thanks. I appreciate the attempt," she said from between her palms. Sliding down from the stool, she stuck her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "I'll get out of your hair, see you in the morning?"

"Actually, there's something else." Isaac pushed away from the counter again, crossing back to his laptop. "Not about Leon, but we've got an assignment." He closed down the vid of Leon and opened another folder, stepping back from the laptop to let her look.

She moved back to the stool, perching on the edge with one leg still on the floor and looked at the silver-plated turian with olive-green colony markings on the screen. Mind switching gears, she pulled the laptop a little closer and started reading. His name was Cambius Remitun, and he belonged to the Blackwatch. She schooled her expression, thoughts flashing to Ares. He'd never actually said the word 'Blackwatch', but Jasmine kind of figured he'd been a part of the Hierarchy's black ops group before going freelance.

The dossier provided only brief, concise information about Remitun's crimes: he infiltrated the home of Alliance Admiral Malkovich and stole classified information, killing Malkovich in the process. According to an unnamed informant, the target planned to arrive on the Citadel in five days to meet with the Council. He intended to present the information to the Council in an attempt to make himself stand out from the other candidates for a Spectre position. Her job, well, she supposed she'd be doing it with Isaac, was to intercept Remitun, secure the classified information, and then kill him before he met with the Council.

She let out a soft whistle. "He's Blackwatch, he'll be prepared."

"Mhmm." Isaac crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't have much on Blackwatch, or even anyone I think will really be able to tell us anything, so I'm open to suggestions."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this a test? It feels like a test."

He grinned, bobbing his head in the rhythmic way of his. "Maybe."

She sighed, pulling herself the rest of the way up on the stool and tapped her fingers against the breakfast bar. She sucked her teeth, already regretting the words forming on the tip of her tongue. "I might know someone who can give us some insight."

Isaac lifted an eyebrow. "Thought you didn't have any contacts of your own?"

"I never said that. You assumed I didn't, and I told you Leon discouraged it." She shrugged. "Should I get in touch with him or not?"

Bobbing his head again, he chuckled. "Alright, Shepard. Let's see what you've got. I'll give you extra points if I get to meet him, verify this contact and his information for myself."

She arched an eyebrow. "Points? Since when are we doing points?"

He just smiled.

"I hate you," she said, narrowing her eyes.

"No you don't." His smile widened into a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "I might be able to get him to come to the Citadel, if he's not busy, but it'd probably be easier if we offered to pay his way."

"Set it up," Isaac said, bobbing his head again. "I'll make sure it's taken care of."

"Alright, I better call him alone." She slid down from the stool again. "I'll let you know what he says."

Isaac nodded, walking her to the door. "Hey, Shepard?" He pursed his lips when she stopped in the doorway to look back at him. "I know you don't want to hear it, but I think you need to let this thing with Leon go. Easier said than done, I'm sure, but you need to get your head clear, and I've given you all the vacation time I can," he said with a smirk.

She forced a smile on her face, knowing damn well she'd find a way to see it through to the bitter end. It wasn't even about Leon anymore, not really. It was about figuring out what ties the Cerberus had to the Alliance. She never bought into the star-eyed ideals Geoffrey held about humanity's military, how could she when she assassinated people for them, but she did  _believe_ in the Alliance. She was loyal, as Leon said, but if somewhere along the line her loyalty became a fault … she needed to know why.

She didn't respond to Isaac, just nodded and made her way down the hall to her apartment, opening her omni-tool as she went. She didn't have a clue where Ares work took him, so she didn't have a clue if it'd be day or night for him, but she planned to call him anyway. She wanted to see his face when she issued her request—well, what little of his face he ever let be seen. She opened the message already waiting from him, having forgotten to read it earlier.

" _Pretty damn good. Had the pleasure of watching him dissolve in the protein vats."_

_Ew._

It made her oddly happy to know he'd gotten his revenge, but she could've gone without the visual. She used the call feature in the message and waited. A few seconds later, the call connected, showing her the basic outline of the hooded turian, cloaked in shadows, a sniper rifle stretched out in front of him.

"Bad time?" she asked, lifting her eyebrows.

"Not at all." He put his eye to the scope, adjusting his sighting before turning his attention back to her.

She snorted, sitting down on the couch. "So, um, hey, how do you feel about an expenses paid trip to the Citadel? Something landed on my desk I think you might be able to provide some insight on. If you're game, I could use you here ASAP."

"I'm game. Let me finish this real quick." He put his eye back to the scope, and a moment later she heard the muffled crack of a silenced shot. "Done." He crawled back, deeper into the shadows, and she heard the sounds of him packing up his weapon. A moment later, he reappeared in what looked like a dimly lit alleyway. "I'll book a ship, you can reimburse me when I get there. Meet you at Chora's?"

She debated for a minute on whether or not she should mention Isaac, but she decided against it. She had a feeling it might make him change his mind about coming. "Sounds good, just let me know when you're here."

* * *

A few hours later, Jasmine found herself dressed for Chora's Den and standing in the middle of Isaac's apartment. Her gaze roamed over him, taking in his crisp, black and white suit. She hadn't expected Ares to get to the Citadel so fast, but he messaged her a half hour ago and told her he'd grab the same booth where they met last time. Looking at Isaac, she dreaded the turian might spot him the second he walked in and make a run for the door. She knew Isaac rocked the whole disappearing into a crowd thing, but Chora's Den was a hell of a lot smaller than the open Wards.

She pursed her lips and shook her head. "At least you're wearing relatively neutral colors. Do you even own a pair of jeans?"

He smiled, running his hand down the front of his jacket. "Not currently. Come on, I look good, you know it."

"Yeah, you do, but that's kind of the point." She waved her hand at him. "No one is going to just glance at you once and keep moving. They're going to stop and look you over head to toe, especially this guy."

"You really want me to change?" He raised an eyebrow, a smile toying around his lips.

She gave him a hopeful look. "Maybe just leave the jacket?"

He laughed. "Doesn't work that way." Slipping off his jacket, he turned toward his room. "Hold on a second." A minute later, he came back out, his dress shirt gone, leaving him in a tank top. He held up a maroon shirt, cut like a t-shirt, but silken. In the other hand he held a gray, almost silver, shirt of a similar design but with a crushed velvet look to it. "Which one?"

She sighed inwardly, thoroughly convinced the man didn't at all understand the concept of blending in. Hell, she kinda wanted to steal both of the shirts, they'd fit right in with her wardrobe. Narrowing her eyes, she watched as he held first one and then the other up to his chest again. "Maroon."

He smiled, dropping the gray shirt on the counter and slipped the other over his head. "Happy?"

"Happier." She smirked. "Now, please, just stay back until I call you over. I don't know this guy real well, I don't want him to bolt."

"Girl, I know what I'm doing." He picked up the discarded shirt and took it back to his room. When he came out again, he put on a brimmed, black hat, tilting it to the side, the piping matching his shirt. He winked at her, and she laughed as she followed him to the door.

They left Tiberius Towers and hailed a cab at the taxi stand. When it arrived, he opened the door for her and she climbed inside, setting the coordinates for the rapid transit location just outside of Chora's Den. Isaac climbed inside next to her and added in a location to one of the stands a little further away. He closed the door and the cab took off.

"So, what do I need to know about this guy?" Sliding the seat further back, he stretched his long legs out as much as the cramped skycar allowed.

"Mmmm. No offense, but I'm not going to tell you much about him. I wouldn't want him to if the roles were reversed." Jasmine glanced over at him, hoping her tight-lipped approach didn't upset her new handler.

He turned his lips down, raising his eyebrows and nodded. "Fair enough. Just tell me what you're comfortable with, then, so I'm not going in completely blind."

"Alright, he's turian. Likes to wear a hooded cloak. He's got …" She waved her fingers at the side of her face. "... some pretty serious scarring he keeps hidden. Burns. He smokes, drinks, and is a terrible flirt. He'll be armed. He's perceptive. Honestly a bit of an ass, but in a funny way. Well, funny to me. He's crass, so, you know, don't let it bother you."

Isaac shifted in his seat, turning more towards her. "How'd you meet him?"

"Uhhhh … he's someone I'd been chatting with for awhile, and one night, after a rough few days, I invited him for drinks." She shrugged, brushing off the question and looked out the windshield. "You know, just to have someone to talk to."

"Uh huh."

She glanced over at him, seeing the dubious look on his face, and snorted. "It was just drinks. Well, drinks and then a late night meal at  _Le Bleu_."

"Now see, that wasn't even the part I was questioning, but now I am." He grinned. "I meant how did you meet him initially, before you invited him for drinks."

She turned her head to look out the window, hiding the twitch of a smile and shrugged. "Ask him if you want."

"Maybe I will." He fell silent, letting his words linger in the air between them.

She felt his gaze on her, raising the hairs on the back of her neck, so she turned her attention to him. "Anything else?"

He jerked his head a little. "What's he know you by?"

"Ramona," she said, then tilted her head in acquiescence, "but I'm sure he realizes it's not my real name."

He raised an eyebrow. "He knows what you do for a living?"

"It's never been said directly, but yeah," she said with a nod.

Isaac seemed to contemplate for a moment before asking, "You trust him?"

She pursed her lips and drew her shoulders inward before letting them drop. "I don't  _not_ trust him."

He smirked. "You trust him for this job?"

She thought about it for a second, remembering what he'd said about how he'd been betrayed, and then she gave Isaac a decisive nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

When the cab finally settled down, Isaac climbed out, turning back to duck his head into the vehicle. "If anything doesn't feel right, I mean anything, I expect you to give me the signal."

"Yep," she said, putting emphasis on the last part. "I'll see you when you get there."

He smirked, giving her a shake of his head. "No you won't."

She snorted as he closed the door, and then the cab lifted back into the air. A minute later, it touched down outside of the entrance to Chora's Den, and she climbed out. The steady bass coming from the club reached her ears, and she smiled, making her way toward the entrance. The door slid open for her, and she glanced around, scanning the crowd. Rounding the bar, she made her way to her old table, the hooded turian already waiting for her, lit cigarette and drink in hand.

He fluttered his mandibles, making the sides of his hood waver, when he saw her. Jasmine's smile widened, and she slid into the booth across from him, turning sideways so she could see the rest of the bar. Ares waved over the waitress, a human she'd never seen before.

"Welcome to Chora's Den, what can I get for you?" The woman shifted her weight from foot to foot, glancing around the bar before her gaze landed back on Jasmine.

"Gunfire, and whatever he's having." She nodded toward Ares.

"Coming right up!" The waitress flashed Jasmine a smile, but it looked worn thin. Working the crowded club, it was no surprise.

"Whatever I'm having?" He let out a low, rumbling chuckle. "And here I thought we were going to be having a serious conversation."

She nodded, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smirk. "We will be, but after drinking me under the table the last time we were here, I assume you can handle your liquor enough to have another drink. Unless you've had more than just the one while you waited?"

He hummed, obviously feigning contemplation. "Well …." He turned his face toward her enough for her to see a shit-eating grin stand out in the shadows. "But, remember, there's no one here around to save you from my charms this time."

Snorting, she rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself." She shifted a little, letting her gaze roam over the bar, hoping to catch sight of Isaac. "I thought we might take a few minutes to, you know, catch up, but then if it's alright with you, I'd rather discuss business someplace less public."

Blowing out a heavy cloud of smoke, he rumbled deep in his throat and nodded. "What's the saying?" He downed the rest of his drink. "I'm game."

"Good," she said with a grin, her gaze locking on the waitress as she carried their drinks back to the table. She waited a moment, letting the waitress set the glasses down in front of them and clear away Ares' old glass before she spoke again. "So … protein vats? Seriously?"

He snorted into his raised glass, lowering it again without taking a drink to say, "The Citadel seems to have fire suppression systems in place, so I couldn't go that route." Shrugging, he lifted his drink again, speaking into the glass loud enough for her to hear. "Go figure."

Jasmine shuddered, exaggerating the motion. "That's gross, but hey, good for you getting it done." She smiled, raising a questioning eyebrow. "So, are you reevaluating your life choices now? Thinking of changing careers?"

"No." He took a long drag of his cigarette. "Why? Should I be?"

She shook her head. "Nope," she said, letting the last syllable pop on her lips. "Do what makes you happy." She hummed, picking at the corner of the table for a second. "I killed my handler." The words came out quiet, pitched low so they won't carry beyond the table. "Spent a few months locked up for it."

Eyes hidden by the hood, his expression lost to the shadows once more, he watched her. The weight of his gaze started to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, so she glanced around the bar again before turning her attention back to Ares.

After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke, his voice decidedly lacking emotion as he asked, "Was it worth it?"

She sucked in a deep breath, letting it expand her lungs until it felt like her ribcage might dislocate. Holding it for a moment, she silently repeated the question to herself. His gaze left her, giving her space to contemplate her answer.

Letting the air seep back out of her, she said, "It had to be done. And, I'd do it again, under the same circumstances."

He made a throaty sound she couldn't quite decipher through his damaged larynx before downing his drink and dropping his spent cigarette in the glass. "I'm ready when you are."

Jasmine knocked back her drink, holding the empty glass in her hand a moment. "There's someone else here I want you to meet. He's keeping his distance until I ask him to join us, if you get up and walk away, no one's going to follow you. But, I hope you don't because I think you might be interested in hearing about my latest job, and I think we could really use your help."

Ares cupped his hands around another cigarette, flicking his old, tarnished lighter, flinching away from the flame. He took in a drag, his voice dry when he let the smoke drift out of him again, saying, "If it's another turian, I'm going to be so hurt."

She snorted again, tension easing across her shoulders. "No, he's human. I did meet a rather attractive turian the other day, though. In C-Sec." She grinned, cocking an eyebrow. "So, while we're still alone, you think you'd mind maybe not mentioning Tannor?" She gave herself a mental pat on the back for remembering to use Thane's alias.

"Who?" He paused, his mandibles fluttering lightly, and then nodded once. "Right. Sure."

"Thanks." Jasmine leaned forward, sitting her empty cup on the edge of the table toward the middle—the signal she planned beforehand to use to let Isaac know Ares agreed to meet him—then she leaned back again. "Am I introducing you as Ares?"

Taking his gaze from the glass, he turned his attention back to her and took another drag from his cigarette. "Nemos is better. Until I know this acquaintance of yours."

She nodded, turning her attention to the crowd. "Fair enough."

A moment later, Isaac appeared next to the booth, and Jasmine dropped her feet, sitting forward so he could take a seat. It might have annoyed her, just a teeny, tiny bit, she didn't see where he came from, even though she watched for his approach. He slid into the booth next to her and folded his hands on top of the table.

"Ray, meet Nemos." She halfheartedly waved her hand between the two of them. "Nemos, Ray … my new handler."

"It's a pleasure." Isaac shifted his gaze to Jasmine, when Ares did little more than flick his mandibles and take a drag from his cigarette. Giving her a playful smirk, he asked, "So, are we ready to go? Because if you down another drink like that, I have a feeling I might be carrying you out of here, and I really don't want vomit on my shirt."

She snorted, shaking her head. If he only knew just how much alcohol she normally put away without blinking an eye … then again, she did just spend a few months in the galaxy's shittiest dry tank. She didn't really drink much on Kahje, either. "Please," she said, rolling her eyes. She turned her attention back to Ares and raised an eyebrow in question, giving him an opening to stall longer if he still needed time to get a feel for Isaac before leaving with them. "You had enough to drink?"

Ares shrugged, sliding out of the booth to stand at the end of the table, waiting. "Lead on."

He loomed over them, and not just because they remained seated, he really was one of the largest turians she'd ever seen. She admitted, he seemed a fair bit more intimidating when she was sober. Well, mostly sober.

Isaac bobbed his head to whatever beat only he heard and stood, taking a couple of steps back to make room for Jasmine. She pushed herself to the edge of the seat and dropped a credit chit on the table before making her way towards the door. Glancing over her shoulder at the two assassins trailing behind her, she caught sight of Ares dropping his cigarette butt into her empty glass. Her eyebrow twitched, mind already trying to ferret out whether or not there was something behind his choice of glass. Looking for the symbolism. It brought her no comfort, and for the first time that night, she started to wonder if calling him had been a mistake.

Outside of Chora's Den, she stopped a meter or so from the door and turned back to them, raising an eyebrow. "My place okay with the two of you?" Admittedly, the idea didn't sit one-hundred percent right with her, but it won out over asking Ares to go back to Isaac's, and they did need the privacy. She thought she saw Isaac's eyes widen for a microsecond, but he only shrugged, glancing at Ares.

Ares' shoulders lifted and dropped as he shook his head. "It's your place, not mine. You want to go there, fine by me."

She sucked on her teeth, the atmosphere feeling awkward and tense. Maybe she should've prepared Ares better for meeting Isaac, but her gut told her he never would've agreed otherwise. She supposed it made her a shit person, but what's done is done. "You good sharing a taxi?"

His mandibles flicked once under his hood. "He sits in the back with me." Ares glanced between her and Isaac. "Figure I don't need to explain why."

Jasmine pursed her lips but nodded. "Alright, let's go."

Isaac was a big boy, he could take care of himself.

* * *

Thane lowered himself to the floor, forming a diamond between his hands, thumbs and forefingers pressed together, and crossed his right ankle over the other. Breathing in a slow and steady breath, he pushed himself up, savoring the burn of his muscles. When his thoughts started to stray to Irikah, he reined them back in, old habits truly did die hard. Instead, he redirected his musings to Sahnira.

It hadn't been difficult to trace the woman's activities, he didn't even need to contact Theodus for assistance. Undoubtedly, Theodus would be able to tell him more, but he believed he learned all he needed. It pained him to know Alahana's granddaughter strayed so far, but her coming to him as a solution left him conflicted. Yet, he accepted the contract, and he'd follow through. It'd dishonor Alahana to not trust her to know her own mind and heart. She expressed certainty, so he intended to bring a swift death to Sahnira. Perhaps he'd uncover some answers, something to show how the woman managed to become so lost, and bring Alahana closure.

Perhaps what left him the most discontented was the fact he'd planned to spend a few extra days with Kolyat once his treatments ended, and then follow the ever-present pull of his heart back to Jasmine. He didn't anticipate the job taking an excessive amount of time, but he did intend to uncover what he could about Sahnira's dealing with the collectors and anyone else who might be involved. Alahana gave him no deadline, so he might still spend a couple of days with Kolyat before leaving Kahje, but he was afraid Jasmine would have to wait.

Changing positions, he tilted his hips and placed a hand on the small of his back, bearing his weight on his left arm, and lowered himself once more. He believed Jasmine would understand, she knew better than most the complications of life for an assassin, and still she chose to be with him. She'd intertwined her life with his, and claimed his heart as her own. Smiling, the memory of the taste of her tongue in his mouth the first time she kissed him tickled at the back of his mind, threatening to distract him completely. He nudged the memory away, promising to allow himself to revisit it later.

Omni-tool vibrating against his wrist, Thane sighed then let out a chuckle. Apparently the gods willed him to be distracted just then, one way or another. He pushed up on his knees and sat back on his heels. Opening the omni-tool, he saw the call came from Kolyat, so he answered it right away.

"Father," Kolyat said as soon as the call connected, a definite pout to his face. "Aleha has gone to the hospital, it is time for the baby to be born. Everyone is going there to see her, but Aleha does not wish for me to join them. She says I am too young to be present." Kolyat huffed, the blue of his eyes catching in the light as he rolled them up toward the ceiling—Thane wondered whether he'd learned the gesture from Jasmine, or perhaps Drali. "May I come stay with you?"

Thane dipped his head, pleased his son wished to stay with him as opposed to insisting he stay at one of his friends' houses, or even alone. "Of course."

He assumed Kolyat's uncle hadn't heard him be so direct, otherwise Rone would've scolded Kolyat. Thane certainly didn't plan to correct him, he never bothered to adjust his own speech patterns when he returned to Kahje—with few exceptions. Questions and directness stopped bothering him long ago, and as much as his heritage meant to him, he found Rone's constant reprimands over Kolyat's manner of expression a bit tiring. He'd never tell Rone, of course, it'd be insulting considering the man took over the task of raising the boy.

Kolyat grinned. "Thank you, Father. I will tell Uncle Rone. He said he would bring me over on their way to the hospital if you agreed."

Returning his smile, Thane said, "I'll see you soon."

As soon as Kolyat cut the call, Thane pushed himself up from the floor and made his way to the bathroom, stripping off his pants and stepping into the sonic-shower. Scrubbing himself with the  _haratasinu_ , he activated the sound waves, just beyond his range of hearing, letting the sonic blasts knock the cleansing powder and sweat residue from his body. Once he felt clean, he turned off the waves and stepped out, picking up his pants on his way back to his bedroom. He tossed the linen pants in the hamper and then got dressed.

Thane was ready and waiting when the door chimed. After a quick check of the security feed, he answered the door with a smile. "Hello. Please, come inside." He stepped back, letting Kolyat and Rone step into his room.

Kolyat carried an overnight bag with him, which caught Thane by surprise. He didn't realize his son intended to stay the night, but he certainly wouldn't argue against it. Kolyat came inside and sat his bag down next to the couch before taking a seat. Rone lingered near the door, gaze tracking Kolyat's movements before turning to Thane.

"He insisted on bringing some of his things. He said the baby may not come until very late at night, and he may need to spend the night with you." Rone shifted a little, his gaze dropping to the floor as he continued. "I think … I think he was afraid to express the desire to stay the night. Perhaps he feared you or I might not allow him to. I do not think we will be at the hospital very late, so if you wish, I can return for him later."

"I don't mind at all." Thane tucked his hands behind his back. "He's more than welcome to stay, for however long he likes."

Rone smiled, meeting his gaze again. "Ah, well, unfortunately one night is the most he can stay. He has school the day after tomorrow."

"Indeed." Thane chuckled. "Please, give Aleha my best wishes."

"Of course." Rone dipped his head, stepping back out of the door before turning to look at Thane again. "Goodnight, Brother."

Thane smiled, dipping his head as well. "And you, Brother."

* * *

The cab settled down next to the stand outside of Tiberius Towers, and Jasmine opened the door. The ride in the skycar passed mostly in silence, her few failed attempts to make small talk falling on deaf ears. It didn't take her long to realize the shift in Ares' mood reflected his changing roles from shithead smartass to professional assassin on business. Still, she knew he wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of having Isaac sprung on him, but he seemed willing to play nice … so long as Isaac didn't say or do something stupid. It made her momentarily glad Leon was dead, because he most certainly would've done  _something_  to piss off the turian.

Stepping out of the front seat, she waited for Isaac to unfold his long limbs from the back seat, hiding a smirk. She found it kind of funny the two of them, both significantly taller than her, crammed themselves into the back. Isaac cleared the way, and a moment later, Ares stepped out of the cab, glancing around before his gaze settled on her. She led them into Tiberius Towers, smiling at the asari behind the front desk whose eyes grew to the size of walnuts as she took in the addition to Jasmine's entourage.

They stepped into the elevator, Ares pressing his back to the side wall, and Isaac took up station opposite of him, leaving her in no man's land. She let out a weary breath and pushed the button for their floor. Christ, it was going to be a long night, and she'd already had a long day. When the elevator stopped, she led the way to her apartment and unlocked the door.

Stepping inside, she waved her hand out. "Come on in."

Isaac slipped past her, turning on her lights as he went. He glanced back over his shoulder, his gaze meeting hers briefly. Something in his eyes unnerved her, but she didn't know him well enough to make it out. Damn, she hoped she didn't lose some of those points he mentioned earlier. He sat down on the arm of her couch, legs extended out in front of him, ankles crossed, looking perfectly at ease. She called bullshit.

Ares came inside, moving over to lean his hip against the breakfast bar and crossed his arms. He watched Jasmine as she pulled out a stool, sitting down at the end not far from him. "We're in private, so speak."

Her eyebrow twitched at his curt tone and clipped demand before she schooled her features. Sliding her laptop over a little closer to her, she opened it, using her thumbprint to login before accessing the dossier. Looking up, she sought out Ares' gaze and held it, turning the laptop around and sliding it a little closer to him. She felt more than heard Isaac shift his weight, and Ares' gaze flicked to him before returning to the image on the laptop.

She watched Ares, the light of the apartment illuminating more of his features than the dimness of Chora's Den. "Is there anything you can tell us? What we should expect … anything that might help?"

He scrolled through the dossier, mandibles working silently as he read. "I heard of the name before …." He seemed to speak more to himself than to her, tapping his talons against the counter. Glancing at Jasmine, he shifted his gaze to Isaac. "If I'm just here to provide information, then you're going to have to give me some good incentive. And threatening my life won't work." He chuckled, the sound rough, dry, and completely void of humor. "Some have already tried."

Jasmine snorted. "Do you really think so little of me?" She turned in her seat, glancing between him and Isaac.

"I'm not talking about you." Ares pulled his gaze away from Isaac and looked at her again. "I'm talking about the Alliance."

She winced, dodging Isaac's gaze as he pushed away from the couch, moving to stand next to her. Yep. She definitely lost points. Fuck it, she didn't even know she was working on a point system. He leaned against the edge of the breakfast bar, the scent of his cologne filling her nostrils, forcing her to look him in the eye. He held her gaze, but didn't say anything. She knew the moment the old, stubborn flare sparked in her eyes, despite her best intentions to keep her face neutral, because he grinned, flashing his teeth at her and shook his head.

After a moment, he turned his attention to Ares. "You want to be here for something more than just information?"

"Keep it off any official reports to your superiors, and I'd do it for free. There's no love lost between the Blackwatch division and myself." He rumbled and stretched out his neck, making it pop. "But force me to stay out of it and ask for some information only, and I expect some good credits."

"Fuck that, you're not stealing my job. This is my first one back in the game," she said, glancing at Isaac, "besides, I've got to impress Bossman."

Ares grinned, mandibles flaring wide. "Credits it is then."

"Salazar, play nice." Isaac pushed away from the counter. "He's your contact," he said, smirking at her before moving into the kitchen. "You brought him in on this, you can share your toys if the man wants to play." He opened her refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of water—without asking—and unscrewed the lid, tipping it back to take a drink.

Ares' gaze followed Isaac's movements until her handler started drinking from the bottle. He turned his attention back to her. "You don't want me in, and you don't want to pay me, so you tell  _me_  what you think my aid is worth?" He smirked and crossed his arms again.

She pursed her lips, all too aware she looked like a petulant child as she crossed her arms, but she didn't care. "No one said we wouldn't pay you …" She glanced at Isaac who chuckled, taking another drink. "... regardless of what part you play in this, and I already told you, your trip is paid for." She sucked on her teeth, watching Ares through narrowed eyes. "We both know you don't work with partners. The question is, are you able to 'play nice?'"

"Just because I don't, doesn't mean I  _can't_." He grunted and drummed his talons on his opposite elbow. "I can work just fine, but I'm not responsible for whatever political bullshit is going on between the Alliance and Hierarchy concerning this. I've had enough being a scapegoat, so it still stands. Keep me out of your reports." He looked to Isaac. "Both of your reports, superior and subordinate."

Isaac sat the bottle down on the counter, screwing the lid back on. "And if I want to play, too?" Something flashed in Isaac's eyes, something almost … flirty as he said the words, and Jasmine filed it away for later consideration.

Ares watched Isaac, an unfamiliar rumble rising from his chest before shrugging. "Isn't my contract. You want to play outside of it, then it's a different conversation."

Jasmine let out a phlegmy, rolling sound in the back of her throat, sliding off the stool. "I hate you both," she muttered, making her way into the kitchen.

"No you don't," Isaac said.

She opened the refrigerator, pulling out two more bottles of water. She held one up, shaking it a little at Ares and lifted an eyebrow. He held out a hand, and she tossed it to him before twisting the cap off the other. Taking a drink, she glanced between the two men, shaking her head at the smug look on Isaac's face as he watched Ares.

"She wouldn't tell me much about you." Isaac laid his forearms on the counter, leaning in a little over the breakfast bar towards Ares. "How'd you two meet?"

Jasmine grinned, nodding her head in permission to Ares from behind Isaac, waiting to see if he'd bring up ' _Assassins Unveiled'_. She was glad to see the two of them relaxing, even if she felt mildly disturbed by the unexpected undertones the conversation took on. She wondered if Isaac was genuinely interested in Ares, or just working with what information she gave him to put the turian at ease.

"Matchmaking site," Ares said, and she nearly choked on her water. "Perfect for people like us." He took a drink, taking his time swallowing the water before adding, "She said something about liking piña coladas and beaches, and it was love at first reply."

Isaac slowly turned his head to look at her, eyebrows arching up.

She shook her head. "It  _was not_ a matchmaking site." Cocking a hip, arching an eyebrow, and holding her arms out to the side, she added, "Like hell I need to use a matchmaking site."

"Uh huh."

"If it isn't one, then I've been using it wrong." Ares lifted a hand to his chest, affecting confusion and surprise.

Isaac turned his attention back to the turian on the other side of the breakfast bar. "'Love at first reply', huh? Salazar, you didn't tell me you two have a thing going on."

"We don't." She huffed, leaning against the counter next to her handler.

"Hard not to fall in love with a woman who's willing to talk about her panties with me." Ares gave Jasmine a knowing smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "I hate you both."

"' _Assassins Unveiled'_ … which makes you … ' _ThisGuy800.'_ " Isaac pushed back from the breakfast bar and picked up his bottle of water.

Ares hummed in affirmation, lifting his own bottle to his mouth plates.

Isaac laughed, the sound rich and boisterous. "You're a dick."

Jasmine joined him, head tilted back to the ceiling. Glancing back at Ares, she closed her mouth, bringing her fist to her lips to stifle her laughter.

Ares shrugged. "Heard the human saying once, 'don't be  _that guy_ ' and decided why not?"

"Why don't you tell him who you are?" She reached out a hand to shove Isaac, but he brushed it aside before she made contact, laughter cutting off as quickly as it started.

Turning her wrist to counter, she stopped when his fingers locked around her arm, and he gently pushed her back with a smirk. She threw her bottle cap at him instead, and he let it hit his chest before bouncing onto the counter.

"Nah, I'll let him figure it out on his own." He glanced back and forth between her and Ares. "So, we'll do the job together. Nemos is never mentioned in the reports." He shrugged. "I can live with that." Gaze steady on Ares, he said, "Last chance to give me a price, or I'm taking you up on the offer of doing it for free."

Finishing off his bottle of water, Ares nodded. "She said she'd pay my travel expense and that's it. So long as Remitun is dead by the end, I'm good."

Leaning against the counter again, she shook her head. "I said your expenses would be paid, didn't say  _I'm_  paying them." She jerked her head toward Isaac. "He's taking care of it."

Isaac opened his omni-tool. "I can reimburse you now, if you want."

"I'll send you my account information and a bill," Ares said, opening his omni-tool. "I only deal in untraceable chits or third party accounts."

"No problem." After a moment, Isaac's omni-tool pinged with the information, and he wired credits to the account. Closing his omni-tool, he glanced at Jasmine. "It's late, I'm heading out to crash. You good?"

"I'm good." She turned her attention to Ares, lifting an eyebrow as she asked, "Stick around for a bit?"

He let out a thrumming sound, standing up straight. "I'm going for a smoke," he said as he headed for her balcony.

She took it as a yes.


	16. Wounded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: 'Strengthening Bonds' is a side fic taking place between chapters 15 and 16 featuring Jasmine and Ares (Ares is written by squiggly_squid) over the few days they spent together while getting ready for the Remitun job. Please check it out!

**Wounded**

Jasmine sunk back into the shadows, gaze drifting between Isaac's position and  _The Caleria_ coming into dock. No doubt thanks to Ares' complaining, Isaac outfited them all with comms before they headed out. She hated the damn things, hated the way the device felt in her ear, but more importantly, hated it all but deafened her on her right side. It left her feeling jumpy, constantly wanting to turn her head to check her three and six o'clock because she couldn't trust herself to pick up on the sounds of an enemy approaching.

So far, so good, though. She didn't see any sign of other Blackwatch members lurking in the shadows, and neither Ares nor Isaac reported any either. She glanced up, sweeping her gaze up and down the catwalks before lifting her sniper rifle, putting her eye to the scope to check out the far side. Nothing. Lowering her gun, she glanced to her right and behind her once more. Letting out a sigh, she turned her attention back to the docks.

Just as the clamps closed down on  _The Caleria_ , locking the ship into place, Jasmine caught a glimpse of an armored turian moving through the crowds before disappearing from sight. She brought her hand up to her ear, tapping the mic on her comm unit. "Potential at your eight, lost visual."

Isaac, not being in a position to activate his mic and respond without risking drawing attention to himself, reached over and brushed at his sleeve—a signal they'd agreed upon beforehand. She kept watch, waiting for the turian to show himself again, but she only caught a glimpse as he continued to close in on the docking bay, approaching from Isaac's left, before she lost track of him again. He wore dark, nondescript armor, but the shotgun on his back was obvious enough. Still, didn't necessarily make him Blackwatch.

The airlock slid open, and people started filing off  _The Caleria_. Jasmine lifted her sniper rifle again, using the scope to zero in on the turian faces, ignoring those who were obviously not Remitun. She stopped on one, pursing her lips as she matched up facial features, plate color, and hide color to her memory of Remitun. Ares had been right, Remitun changed his colony markings. Instead of sporting the olive-green curves swooping down his mandibles and spread out over his cheeks before arching over his temples, Remitun changed to a red, lines traveling from the crestline straight down his forehead and over his nose, spreading out low over his upper mouth plates before arching back up to curl back in toward his eyes. Other lines traveled perpendicular to those on his forehead, tracing the curve of his face before trailing over his mandibles.

Jasmine touched her mic again. "Target confirmed."

She watched as Remitun cleared the walkway, stepping out onto the actual Citadel. He stopped, scanning the area, mandibles fluttering. Two other turians—Veltiria Simtumus and Kaeslio Attis, if Ares' intel was correct—moved past Remitun, scanning the crowds before breaking away, taking flanking positions. Attis, she assumed, melted into the crowd, but she stayed with him, tracking his movements as he moved closer and closer toward one of the entrances to the catwalks. He disappeared into the alcove where she knew he'd climb the ladder leading up to the catwalks, and she knew she had minutes at most before the turian would spot her.

Tapping her mic again, Jasmine said, "Secondary male target confirmed. Changing positions."

She gave one last glance to the docks, watching Isaac as he scratched his chin in confirmation before she flipped the strap on her sniper rifle over her head and arm, shoving the rifle behind her and started moving. Staying in the shadows, she moved to the next ladder, climbing up to the second tier of the catwalks. Activating her cloak at the top, she put as much distance between herself and the turian black ops specialist moving in her direction as she could before the cloak failed again, counting down the seconds in her head. Just before her cloak dropped, she stepped into a darker shadow and crouched. Waiting and watching while her cloak recharged.

A shift in the shadows down below alerted her to Attis' approach. Lucky for her, his attention stayed on the crowded floor. She reactivated her cloak and pushed herself to her feet, putting more distance between herself and Attis. Turning onto one of the crosswalks, she ducked down again, putting her back to the metal sheet reinforcing the intersection. She waited there, letting Attis pass beneath her as he continued on down the catwalk. She couldn't risk trying to get eyes on Isaac or Remitun, but judging by Attis' movements, Remitun decided to stick to traveling by foot instead of using the Citadel Rapid Transit.

Creeping to the other side of the crosswalk, she peered over the edge to watch Attis. The turian stopped again, glancing around the catwalks, but he didn't look up. Turning his attention back to the Citadel floor. His gaze shifted, and suddenly he seemed to be tracking something else, his mandibles snapping tight against his jaw. Dread turned in Jasmine's stomach as she realized the known sniper spotted Isaac—which meant Isaac made a mistake, something he wasn't likely to do without a damn good reason.

Isaac's voice filled her ear as he said, "Your C-Sec friend is tailing me. I could use a distraction."

Jasmine closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, breath caught in her throat. Damn it. She knew Garrus wouldn't let it go. He had her scent—both metaphorically and literally—after suspecting her and Ares for the deaths of three men and the injuries leaving two others in the hospital. He was right, but still, it annoyed the hell out of her the officer wouldn't leave it alone.

The men were after Mouse, ready to shoot him over some shit he stole from their store. There wasn't any way in hell she'd let that happen. Yeah, things got out of hand, but Isaac made the records go poof, convinced the survivors to keep their mouths shut, and somehow even managed to get the C-Sec higher ups to close the investigation. She didn't even  _want_ to know how the hell he pulled  _that_  off. But none of it seemed to matter to Garrus who found her at  _Le Bleu_ ,  _trying_  to have a nice, quiet lunch, and decided to question her about the incident. Apparently, he decided it was a good idea to follow Isaac, knowing Isaac as her CO.

Opening her eyes again, she saw Attis lifting one hand to his comm, reaching for his sniper rifle holstered on his back with the other. Jasmine lifted her own rifle, bringing him into her sights, and lined up her shot before he could raise the alarm. She pulled the trigger, the sound muffled through her silencer. Attis jerked to the side, the shot taking him in the side of the head. He stumbled, knees buckling before he collapsed, armor making the metal of the catwalks ring. Blue blood already started dripping through the mesh, soon, someone down below would notice. Pivoting, she aimed her rifle at the show window of a store and pulled the trigger, shattering the glass. It probably wasn't the distraction Isaac wanted, and it'd probably put Remitun on high alert, but it'd have to do.

Immediately, a roar went through the crowd below as people yelled and began to run for cover. Jasmine stood, activating her cloak and ran like hell, putting distance between herself and the dead body, no real need to be silent for the time being.

"Seriously?" Isaac  _did not_  sound amused.

Stopping on the opposite catwalk, she lifted her hand to her mic. "Secondary male drew a weapon, he had you in his sights." Collapsing her sniper rifle, she concealed it beneath her jacket and grabbed the ladder leading into an alley. "I needed to take him down and put some distance between us. Sorry, it's the best distraction I could give you in the moment. Moving to the ground before secondary male is discovered."

Ares' voice broke through the comms, a dry rumble in her ear. "Expect secondary female to react when he doesn't check in."

"Distraction successful," Isaac said, and then a few seconds later, "Primary changing course."

Jasmine hurried down the ladder and exited at the far end of the alley. It put her away from Attis and the comotion her vandalism caused, but it also made it impossible for her to get eyes on either Isaac or Remitun. She hung a right, planning to make her way down to the next alley a couple of blocks down and then cut back acrossed.

"Moving to engage secondary female. Take lead, Sunshine," Isaac said.

_Well, shit._

Picking up speed, she broke into a jog, praying no one paid her any attention as she wove through the crowds. "Don't have visual," she said into her comm, rounding the corner to the alley. No sooner than the words left her mouth, though, she caught sight of Remitun as he jumped, grabbing a ladder on the side of a building and pulling himself up. She ducked back around the edge, bringing her hand back to her mic. "Scratch that, I see him. Primary moving to a rooftop." She opened her omni-tool, snagging her coordinates from the omni-tool's built in sensors and forwarded them to Ares. "Sweet Pea, your position is no longer in primary's path. I'm sending you the building's location, look at the maps and reconfigure primary's trajectory to determine where to relocate. I'm going up."

Ares growled in her ear, the same low, challenge of a sound he used with her anytime she told him what to do. Still, she knew he'd listen. Spending the last few days with the turian crashing at her apartment, she'd learned quite a bit about him, figured out a little of what made him tick. If he held any real complaints about her directives, he'd give voice to them and tell her what he intended to do instead. She waited until Remitun disappeared over the top of the ladder before easing down the side of the building, sticking to the shadows and hugging the wall as much as possible.

Reaching the ladder, she took a deep breath, backing up a little to get a running start. There wasn't anything around besides the wall for her to kick off of, and it wouldn't give her the angle she needed, so she just had to jump for it. Pushing off, she bent her knees and lunged for the ladder, letting out her breath in a relieved sigh when her hands wrapped around the bottom rung, and she started to pull herself up.

Peeking over the edge at the top, Jasmine scanned the area, not seeing Remitun. She activated her cloak and then climbed over the edge, dropping down behind the ventilation systems. A soft scrape of sound at her back warned her of an imminent attack. Pulling her pistol as she spun, she came face to face with the butt of Remitun's assault rifle coming at her as the turian jumped down from the massive coolant unit.

Rolling out of the way, she fired off a shot, expecting it to miss but with a little luck it would buy her a few seconds. She popped back to her feet only to be hit with biotics, dark blue and purple energy swirling around her, ripping her insides out. Jasmine clenched her teeth against the pain, a scream forcing its way up through her throat anyway. She stumbled back, trying to put distance between herself and the advancing turian, lowering his assault rifle at her.

A bullet tore through her abdomen, another through her shoulder, two points of searing, hot pain, leaving her momentarily blinded. By the grace of God, she tripped, her calves hitting another vent, and fell over the metal surface to land on the other side. Miraculously, she didn't drop her pistol. Scrambling as shots flew over her head and the last of the Reave wore off, Jasmine moved a little further down the shaft to an area that might actually provide her some cover. She glanced down at her stomach, blood seeping through her shirt on the right. It didn't even hurt anymore, and she knew that was  _not_ a good thing.

"Found two more," Ares voice filled her ear. "Taking them down, then I'll send you my new location."

Fingers trembling, Jasmine lifted her hand to her mic. "Pinned down by primary. I've been shot."

"Where are you?" Isaac's voice came, cold and demanding.

"Uh …." She couldn't remember the coordinates, and she didn't exactly have time to look.

"You're bleeding, human." Remitun's voice came from about a meter and a half away, making her jerk her head toward the sound, sending a fresh wave of agony through her shoulder. "Your backup will never arrive in time."

Peering around the edge, Jasmine lifted her pistol, firing off three shots only to have them be eaten by Remitun's Barrier. Her shoulder cried out with each recoil, demanding she stop. God damn it, why did she have to get stuck with the Cabal trained turian? Christ, if ever there was a time for her to want red sand, it was right then. At least she'd have  _some_ biotics, even if they were miniscule in comparison, and wouldn't give a shit about the pain.

"Sunshine, where are you?" Isaac asked again, resorting to her stupid codename for the comms. Still, it was better than the one she gave Ares.

Firing again, if for no other reason than to try to keep the turian back, she snapped her jaw down on a bolt of white hot pain shooting through her shoulder, the wound in her abdomen starting to throb. Remitun opened fire, sending her scurrying back behind the thick sheets of metal, praying they'd hold out against his weapon.

Ares' growl ripped through the comm when she didn't answer, and she heard the shuffled sounds of hand to hand combat on his end. "Give me a second, and I'll send you her last coordinates."

"I hear gunfire, I'm heading in that direction. Putting in a diversionary call to C-Sec," Isaac said.

Remitun scoffed. "You? You are what they send after me? You're but a child, not even wearing armor."

Jasmine's jaw twitched at the insult, but it wasn't really the time to let her pride dictate her actions. Instead, she pressed her palm against her wound and then smeared the blood over the vent, spreading her scent around. Staying low and moving as quietly as possible, she left a trail of blood down the side of the vent as she crawled to the far end. She heard Remitun sniffing the air, almost hearing his confusion through the deep breaths.

The vents moved upward, splitting off, giving her an area where she could pull herself back to her feet, despite the stabbing pain and lightheaded feeling scrambling her thoughts. Pressing her back to the vent, she peered around the edge, spotting Remitun taking slow, cautious steps towards her last location.

"That's a lot of blood, you still alive, little human?" He tilted his head to the side, straining to listen for her above the sounds coming from the Citadel streets, no doubt.

"Sending you her coordinates and headed to her now," Ares said.

She fought back the urge to tell the turian to fuck off and waited, gun in hand. The second his Barrier dropped, she took aim and fired. Weakened from her injuries, her shot didn't land where she wanted it to, catching him in the joint of his mandible instead of the temple. Remitun stumbled back, dropping his assault rifle before falling. Flailing as he went down, he managed to turn himself over to hands and knees, his head turned away from her. His armor would take too long for her to get through with her pistol, and she didn't have time to switch back to her sniper rifle and line up a shot, so, she rushed him, hand pressed to the bullet wound at her side, her will to live pushing her through the pain.

Remitun reared back to his knees, taking a swing at her, biotics building at the tips of his fingers. She dodged, the Reave licking at her side but not quite reaching its mark. Bringing her pistol up, she fired into his face at point blank range. Her shot tore through his eye, bringing a strangled gasp from the turian before he fell silent. Listing to the side, his other eye already glazing over, she fired again for good measure. Remitun collapsed, unmoving and dead.

Jasmine dropped down next to him, whimpering as pain wracked her wounds. Digging in her jacket pocket with numb fingers, she finally managed to wrap her hand around the tube of Medi-gel. She pulled it out, only to drop it, her vision starting to darken around the edges, ears ringing. She reached for it, trying to focus, but a dark hand picked it up instead. She glanced up, finding Isaac moving to squat down in front of her.

His lips moved, but she couldn't hear him. She blinked, trying to focus. He moved a hand to her face—Christ, why was his skin so hot?—fingers guiding her head back to look at him. He glanced over his shoulder, and Jasmine's gaze followed, spotting Ares approaching as everything went black.

* * *

Thane placed his piece on the  _treala_ board and looked at Kolyat. Drali sat to the side of the boy, looking over his shoulder and pointing out moves, much to Kolyat's dismay. Twice, Thane caught Kolyat ram an elbow at his uncle, only to have Drali laugh and lean in closer. Kolyat glared at Drali, picking up his next piece before playing it adjacent to Thane's.

Drali hissed. "You shouldn't have done that." A lie, meant to antagonize the boy; Kolyat's choice of move was sound.

"Uncle Drali, stop!" The words left Kolyat in a frustrated whine.

Drali laughed, standing up from the table, grabbing his cup and Thane's. "More, Brother?"

Thane looked up at the tall drell and dipped his head. "Yes, please."

Rone spent the afternoon in his study, filling out expense reports and Kelena went to help Aleha with the baby—a girl, named Asantia, so Thane was told. Everyone, save Thane, had been invited to visit the child after Aleha left the hospital. The slight wasn't lost on him, but neither was it unexpected.

Drali returned, putting a fresh cup of  _cinuela_ down in front of Thane. "So, you haven't spoken of Jasmine tonight. I trust she is well."

Thane glanced at Kolyat, relieved to see his son didn't react, before turning his attention to Drali. "Ah, yes, she is well. I haven't spoken to her in a couple of days. She is … entertaining a guest in her home. I don't wish to intrude."

Drali lifted a brow ridge, the question evident in his eyes.

"He is a colleague, there to help her with an assignment," Thane said, waving his hand. "For work."

"Of course," Drali said, sitting back down next to Kolyat, his gaze staying on Thane.

Thane chuckled, knowing what Drali must think about Jasmine having a man stay with her, but he carried no doubts. Even should she seek comfort in Ares' arms in his absence—which he didn't believe she would, he knew her thoughts on stepping outside of a relationship—her heart still belonged to him, and in the end, nothing else mattered.

"Is Jasmine angry with me, Father?" Kolyat asked, his gaze flicking to Thane's before dropping back to the board.

"Not at all, Kolyat." Thane picked up his next piece, moving it over two spaces deeper into the spiral. "In fact, she asks about you every time we speak. She cares about you, and hopes you are doing well."

"I left her present in the restaurant and said mean things to her." Kolyat picked up one of his blue stones, turning it over in his hand as he looked at the board. "She has every reason to be angry."

Thane's lip twitched in a smile, reaching into his pocket to retrieve the bracelet she'd given Kolyat for his birthday. He'd kept it with him since the day Kolyat stormed off, tossing the bracelet on the table. "Would you like her gift back, Kolyat?" he asked, holding it up for his son to see.

Kolyat's eyes widened. "I did not know you kept it." He took the bracelet from Thane's palm when he held it out. Smiling, Kolyat ran his fingers over the shells.

Glancing at the board, he hastily put his piece down on an empty space, turning his attention back to the bracelet. Drali grunted, leaning forward and sliding the piece over to a more advantageous position, but no one commented. Kolyat opened the clasp, wrapping the bracelet around his wrist before trapping it against his chest to help him hold it in place while he closed it, securing the bracelet in place.

Thane smiled, picking up his next piece. "Perhaps we will call her later, if you'd like. I'm sure she'd be pleased to hear from you."

* * *

Jasmine jerked back awake when Isaac slapped her face, not hard enough to bruise, but certainly hard enough to sting. He waited until her gaze focused on him before nodding and lifting her shirt up to survey the damage done to the right hand side of her abdomen. Ares squatted down at her left, out of the way of Isaac's work. She glanced at him, and he flicked a mandible pushing back to his feet to scope out the rest of the roof.

"I'm going to roll you over a little to look at the back, see if it went through," Isaac said, sliding his hands under her side. "Ready?" He lifted an eyebrow.

Even though she nodded, the second he started to shift her, agony swept through her, and she blacked out again.

* * *

Thane's omni-tool vibrated against his wrist, and he opened the screen. Brow ridge twitching, he glanced at the notification from ' _Assassins Unveiled'_. He opened the link and saw he'd received a private message from Ares' username. Confused as to why the turian assassin would be sending him a private message, Thane logged into the site and accessed the systems internal messages.

" _Figured she'd want me to tell you she's been shot. Her guy's got her at a clinic. She'll live."_

Thane's heart stuttered in his chest. He read the message again, trying to focus his attention on the last, simple sentence.

"Thane, are you well?" Drali's voice dragged him from the depths of fear settling in around him like a thick, black cloud ready to suffocate him.

"I—my apologies." Thane met Drali's gaze. "Excuse me for a moment." He stood, making his way down the hall to the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

He read the message again, looking for any subtext before responding. " _I see, thank you for notifying me. Please, can you tell me how extensive her injuries are? Is her location secure?"_

Ares' response didn't take long in coming. " _Assault rifle shot to the lower, right side of her abdomen and right shoulder. All known targets were taken care of. Nobody's getting in there at her."_

Thane sucked in a deep breath, rubbing his hand over his face. He assumed 'her guy' meant her handler, Isaac, she called him. 'All known targets' seemed to imply there might be more they weren't aware of, and the thought unsettled Thane. It seemed as if Ares stood watch from outside the clinic, but surely her handler would be inside with her. He brought his hand back to his omni-tool and wrote, " _Thank you. If anything changes … if she needs anything, please let me know."_

Ares didn't respond, but having met him in person, Thane wasn't surprised. If anything, it shocked him that Ares thought to message him at all. Ares said she'd live, and she was receiving medical attention, but still, Thane wanted to go to her. Close enough to being discharged from the rehabilitation facility, two more treatments couldn't possibly make too much of a difference. He could go to the Citadel, check on her, and still hunt Sahnira once he'd assured himself Jasmine would recover. Oh, but Kolyat. It would crush him if Thane left so suddenly and without warning.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gathering himself, he left the bathroom and made his way back to the table, forcing a reassuring smile on his face when both Kolyat and Drali looked at him with concern in their eyes. He would wait, one day only. If he didn't hear from her by then … Kolyat would learn to forgive him, he hoped.

* * *

Ice rushed through Jasmine's veins, a delicious warmth in its wake. She gasped, letting out a euphoric groan as whatever the beautiful, beautiful thing was slammed into her, lifting her higher than she'd felt in so, so long. She opened her eyes, vision swimming as the drug took hold of her—narcotic painkillers, it had to be. Pain, more so the awareness of pain, distant and dull tickled at the back of her mind as her gaze took in the cute redhead standing next to her.

_Who the fuck are you?_

The woman turned, glancing over her shoulder as she pulled the syringe out of Jasmine's IV port. "Daniel, she's awake."

_Who the hell is Daniel?_

"Daniel?" Jasmine asked, the word feeling off and thick on her tongue. She tried to turn her head to look, but the motion just seemed to intensify the rush. She moaned.

_Oh, God. It feels so good._

A familiar face stepped into view. "Give me a minute with her, please?"

Jasmine struggled with putting a name to the face, but she knew it wasn't 'Daniel'.

"Of course," the redhead said, stepping away from the bed and taking with her the syringe.

_Bring it back, oh, please, bring it back._

He moved to Jasmine's side, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "You were caught in the crossfire of a merc war. Your name is Angela Novak. My name is Daniel Hastings. I brought you here instead of a hospital because you're on the Citadel undocumented after blowing the whistle on corporate corruption within Binary Helix, and we need your injuries to remain off the records in order to keep you safe. Can you remember that?"

Jasmine licked her lips, trying really hard to get the new information to penetrate the fog. She'd remembered Isaac well enough after a second or two, remembered who and what she was, what really happened. She shook her head a little, wrapping her hand around the collar of his shirt. She blinked trying to focus her gaze on his dark brown eyes. She opened her mouth, forcing out the most difficult words she'd ever had to speak because they went against what every nerve in her body demanded in the moment. "You can't let her give me anymore, even if I ask … I'm a recovering addict."

Isaac pulled back a little, brow dipping down low. "Shit. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

She shook her head, eyes rolling back, lids fluttering closed as the rush took her again, a lover she'd not seen in years come back to caress every inch of her, mind and body. "I'll ask, I already want to."

He frowned, concern filling his eyes when she looked up at him again. "She's going to have to knock you out. The shot went through your abdomen, but she needs to clean out the wound and close it off. The one in your shoulder has to be removed and the bone reinforced so it heals right." He rubbed a hand over his head. "You're probably going to wake up feeling even worse, but I'll … I'll see what she has that won't be an issue for you."

Jasmine nodded, as much to feel the sweet, blissful rush again as to acknowledge his statement as she let him go.

* * *

"Ow." Jasmine's eyes fluttered open before drooping closed again. Her shoulder throbbed, her abdomen felt like someone shoved a hot poker inside of her and left there. "Fuck me, that hurts." She forced her eyes opened once more, focusing in on the stranger standing next to her bed.

The redhead smiled down at her. "I'm sorry, Ms. Novak. I've given you the strongest non-narcotic I have here."

_Novak? Right._

Jasmine grunted, gaze landing on Isaac, and she bit back the urge to insist on something stronger. "Thank you, doctor."

"Chloe Michel, and I'm happy to help. As soon as the sedation wears off completely, you'll be able to get out of the bed and move around. I imagine it won't feel very pleasant, but Daniel tells me it's best he gets you to a safe house immediately." The door to the clinic slid open, and the doctor turned, a smile spreading across her face. "Garrus! It's good to see you."

Reflexes feeling half-dead, Jasmine was slow to turn, but when she did, she caught sight of the C-Sec officer who'd been dogging her the last few days. He stepped into the clinic and stopped dead in his tracks. Garrus' mandibles flared wide, looking genuinely shocked as he took in Jasmine and Isaac.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Isaac said, and for the first time she recalled, Jasmine thought he sounded angry. He pushed off the wall, moving around the partition to intercept Garrus. "Can I speak with you outside a moment, Officer?"

Garrus shifted his gaze between Isaac, Jasmine, and Dr. Michel before giving Isaac a curt nod. He turned back around and left the clinic, Isaac hot on his heels.

"Oh, no." Dr. Michel turned her attention back to Jasmine. "I hope everything is alright."

Jasmine shifted a little on the bed, clenching her teeth against a hiss of pain. "Whatever the hell you gave me, it's not helping. At all. Is there something else you can try?"

Dr. Michel gave her a sympathetic smile and shook her head. "I'm sorry, not so close together."

Jasmine let out a heavy sigh and nodded, leaning back on her pillows and closing her eyes, hoping the doctor would take the hint and leave her alone. She wondered where Ares went off to. She wasn't exactly surprised to not see him in the clinic, but she hoped he didn't take off without saying goodbye. She didn't have the chance to ask if he or Isaac sustained injuries at all, but she didn't see anything on Isaac. At least they got to Remitun before he made it to the Council. Even if she made an ass out of herself and got shot.

A few minutes later, the clinic door opened and the two men came back inside, Garrus looking irritated but resigned. Jasmine lifted an eyebrow, surprised to see him still there. She didn't know what Isaac said to him, but whatever, clearly the officer wasn't happy about it. Isaac moved back to his position against the wall not far from her, and Garrus made a beeline for the doctor. She stepped off to the side to talk to him in hushed whispers, making Jasmine wonder if they talked about her.

As they pulled apart again, Dr. Michel put a hand on Garrus' arm and, loud enough for Jasmine to hear, said, "Thank you, Garrus. I can't tell you what a relief that is. If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to ask."

Garrus fluttered his mandibles and nodded at the doctor before turning and started walking. He took two steps before he stopped, looking back at Jasmine over his shoulder, mandibles flaring. He glanced at Isaac and then turned again, walking over to Jasmine's bed. He shifted a little, glancing between her and Isaac. "Hey, hmmm, Angela," he said, and Jasmine lifted an eyebrow. "How are you feeling?"

She blinked, turning her head to glance at Isaac who watched Garrus like a hawk. She guessed Isaac must've told Garrus to call her Angela in front of the doctor, but why? She turned her attention back to Garrus and licked her lips. "Like shit."

He chuffed, flaring his mandibles a little as his mouth plates shifted in an almost smile. "I, uh, I wanted to let you know, I was able to track down a surveillance camera that captured some of the altercation I told you about … looks like you're right, the kid was in trouble." He fluttered his mandibles again, looking at her as he seemed to make up his mind about something. "The images aren't clear enough to get a positive ID, but it's obvious the woman involved saved the kid's life." He glanced at Isaac again. "The investigations been closed, and without any solid evidence … it's staying that way."

She hesitated, not really sure what to say but finally decided on giving him a half smile. "I'm sure that's very disappointing for you."

He let out a soft sigh and tilted his head a little. "It happens that way sometimes. Anyway, I better get going. I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks," Jasmine said, lifting her hand in a half-assed wave. She watched him leave before turning to Isaac, whispering, "What the hell did you say to him?"

"We'll talk about it later." Isaac pushed off the wall, moving back over to her side. "Feel like you can stand yet?"

She scrunched up her nose, not at all fond of the idea. "Yeah. Not going to like it much, though."

He chuckled, shaking his head as he held out his hands to help her. "Don't need to like it, just need to make it to the taxi stand outside." He glanced over his shoulder at the doctor. "Chloe, is it alright if we borrow the gown? I'll wash it and bring it back to you tomorrow."

Dr. Michel waved a hand. "Don't bother, I have plenty. Here, let me take her IV out."

While the doctor removed Jasmine's IV, the door slid open again and Ares strolled inside. "Damn, here I was hoping I'd catch you with your shirt off."

Dr. Michel made a scandalized sound in the back of her throat and looked up, eyes widening at the massive turian.

Jasmine snorted, regretting the action as she eased herself up on the bed with Isaac's help. Her stomach screamed at her, yelling as if being torn open all over again, and her shoulder wasn't any more polite. "Thought maybe you left without saying goodbye."

"You wound me," he said, splaying his fingers out over his chest, "had to see if you're going to milk your injuries and get me in here to drag you out of bed." Ares flicked a mandible, moving to lean against the pillar of the half partition. "You know, if you were trying to get some battle scars, you're going to have to try harder than that. I still have you beat."

She smirked, pushing her feet over the edge of the bed. "You can carry me out to the taxi if it'll make you feel better."

Ares snorted, moving closer to the bed with his arms outstretched. "Your carriage awaits, milady."

Isaac chuckled, helping her slide down off the bed, and shook his head.

Clenching her teeth, her pain ratcheted up to about a fifteen on a scale of one to ten as she stood. She swayed a little, nausea rolling through her stomach, whether from the last effects of the sedation or pain she wasn't sure. She held onto Isaac, unashamed, as she took several slow, deep breaths. Finally, she glanced at Ares and forced a smile on her face. "How about you just put an arm around me and help me walk?"

He flicked a mandible at her but moved closer, sliding an arm under her uninjured side, wrapping it around her back, and pulled some of her weight over onto him. Isaac moved to her other side, ready to assist her more if she needed it. Slow but steady, they led her out of the clinic and over to the taxi stand just outside.

Ares held onto her, hanging back a little while Isaac called the taxi, his voice low so it wouldn't cary past the two of them. "I saw Garrus going in earlier. Heard the little argument he and Ray had. Hopefully he isn't a problem for you anymore."

Jasmine grunted, glancing up at Ares. Christ, where the hell was the cab? She needed to sit back down. "I don't think he will be. Either way, I doubt we'll stay on the Citadel after this."

Ares nodded, mandibles fluttering a little. "I sent your drell a message. Let him know you were hurt but told him you'd live."

Surprised, she raised both brows and blinked a few times. "Thanks."

His response came as a grunted, "Don't mention it."

He walked her a little closer to Isaac as the skycar settled down. When Isaac opened the door, Ares helped her get settled into the front passenger seat. Instantly, her pain lessened, but it remained far more than she wanted to deal with without drugs. Recovering sober was going to suck so hard. Well, maybe Isaac wouldn't take her revelation to drastic lengths and refuse to get her some damn alcohol to take the edge off.

Ares moved back, looking her over and nodded before reaching down to tuck the edge of her gown in around her so it wouldn't get caught in the door. He took a step back, reaching up to rest his hand on the raised door. "I guess you don't need my input anymore, with the hunt done and you leaving the station soon."

"You taking off?" Jasmine asked, holding his gaze.

He grunted, nodding his head. As he started to close the skycar, her smirked at her and said, "No point in sticking around if I'm not even going to get laid."


	17. Debriefing

**Debriefing**

Jasmine laid back on her couch while Isaac paced the floor behind her, talking to someone way above her pay grade. He'd waited until he got her back at her apartment to let her know they didn't actually find the OSD or any of the stolen information on Remitun's omni-tool. Isaac figured Remitun must've passed it off to one of the others, and since they needed to stay on Remitun, no one stopped to check the other members of Blackwatch they killed along the way. Ordinarily, they would've backtracked to try to return to the corpses to check them over before they were discovered, but … Jasmine got shot and Isaac considered getting her to the clinic top priority. Admittedly, she felt more than a little touched. Something told her Leon would've slapped Medi-gel on her and left her there to go find the OSD, or maybe dragged her off somewhere dark and quiet until he could return for her.

But, it also meant Isaac needed to explain to his superiors why they hadn't retrieved the information. By the sounds of things, they blamed Jasmine. Of course. Honestly, she couldn't really argue with their logic, she'd followed Remitun to a secluded area on her own, without backup readily available. She fucked up, and she got shot. Twice.

Isaac, on the other hand, was pissed. "Bullshit! She did everything right. Don't you dare sit here and tell me this is her fault. She had my back, she took down a sniper about to shoot me, and when I told her to stay on Remitun while I diverted to take care of another threat, she did as she was told. That's it." His tone seethed, even if he managed to keep his volume level, something she'd never heard from him before.

She wasn't really used to having someone defend her, and she didn't really know how she felt about it. Her entire life, well, since her mother died, Jasmine looked out for herself, stood up for herself. Yeah, she had some help along the way, obviously. Hell, she'd been dead on the streets of Santa Fe if not for Geoffrey's interference … but still.

"Yes, and she was injured in the process, forcing you to tend to her instead of tracking down the information we sent you to retrieve." The man on the other end of the conversation scoffed, his voice grating on her nerves. "Obviously she didn't do something right."

"This isn't a civilian we're talking about, you get that, right?" Isaac's tone carried with it the underlying question of 'are you fucking stupid?'—and it brought a pained smile to Jasmine's face. "Remitun was Blackwatch, and, as you failed to tell us, a goddamn biotic with at least four people there to guard him." He threw a hand up in the air before rubbing it across his head. "How was she really supposed to defend against a biotic wearing armor and carrying an assault rifle? He used a Reave on her, that shit alone could've killed her!" He turned, pacing back closer to her. "Still, she took him down. Alone, while injured. Even I would've had trouble with him by myself under those circumstances."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow, but he didn't look at her as he continued his pacing. She highly doubted he would've fallen into the same trap she did, let alone been shot. She'd seen his hand to hand skills, he'd probably have taken down Remitun before the turian even pulled his biotics together. Not that she held any intentions of correcting Isaac, at least not while on a call with his superiors. Especially seeing as she didn't think they knew she was even in the room, and Isaac  _probably_  shouldn't have called them with her present. The man already proved himself a mother hen, though, and he said he didn't want to leave her alone until she started moving around better on her own.

"Very well, Winter," a woman said, and though Jasmine couldn't see the speaker, she strongly suspected the voice belonged to The Bitch. "You've made your point. As her handler and lead on this assignment, I expect you to hunt down the OSD.  _Today_."

"Yeah." He stopped pacing, staring down whomever was on the screen. "I'll get right on it."

"A piece of advice? I wouldn't be so quick to stick my neck out for her, if I were you. She might decide it looks better slit," the woman said, making Jasmine almost entirely sure it was The Bitch talking, but the sound of nails tap, tap, tapping against a hard surface after the snide comment left Jasmine without a doubt.

"I'll take that under advisement, ma'am," he said, his voice cold enough to send a chill down Jasmine's spine.

A moment later, Isaac rounded the couch, omni-tool closed, and squatted down in front of her. "Will you be alright by yourself for a while?"

She smirked, knowing it probably didn't carry the weight she wanted with as shitty as she felt. "I'll survive,  _Dad_."

He chuckled, pushing back to his feet. "Alright, Shepard, I'll remember that when you need help getting to the bathroom. I'm not wiping your ass, just so we're clear."

She laughed, following it with a groan. "Hey …" she said, letting seriousness seep into her voice, "... you can stop calling me Shepard, if you want. I think you've earned the right to call me Jasmine."

He snorted, pushing his lips out. "Mmmm, I don't know, you  _did_ just call me Dad." He smiled at her as he turned for the door, but she saw in his eyes how important the moment really was to him, despite his levity. "You need me to pick you up anything while I'm out?"

"A giant bottle of rum." She shifted enough to track his movements.

He stopped, turning around and taking a few steps back towards the couch. "Is liquor really a good idea?"

"Alcohol isn't really a problem for me. So far, anyway." She winced, pushing herself up enough to adjust the pillows behind her. "It's what I usually go to for pain relief."

"You're sure?" He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to nod before saying, "Alright. Brand preference?"

"Doesn't matter, just so it's strong." She waved her hand towards her bedroom. "Will you grab me a shirt before you go, I want out of this damn hospital gown."

Grinning, he bobbed his head. "Sure." Isaac disappeared into her room, returning a moment later with Thane's shirt and the throw blanket from the chair in her room. "This was hanging over the corner of your bed," he said, holding up Thane's shirt, "it looks comfortable. You want this or something else."

A soft smile spread over her lips and she said, "Perfect."

"Alright, let me help you." He tossed the shirt and the blanket on the back of the couch before moving to stand in front of her.

When she nodded, he eased her upright and undid the strings holding the gown closed, sliding it down off her arms. It left her sitting there in nothing but her panties, all of her other clothes having been removed at the clinic. Dropping the gown next to her, he picked up Thane's shirt again, rolling it up in his hands before slipping it over her head. It was actually kind of nice for a guy to see her topless and  _not_ oogle her tits. Hell, his gaze didn't even stray. He guided her injured arm through the sleeve while she worked on shoving her other arm through the opposite hole. Reaching behind her as she tugged the shirt down, he slid a hand under her hair, giving her goosebumps as he pulled her hair free of the collar. She idly wondered if he wanted children, because she thought he'd make a really good father.

Adjusting the pillows for her again, he spread the blanket out over her legs before nodding to himself. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Hey, Isaac?" She waited for him to meet her gaze before she said, "Be careful."

* * *

Thane breathed a sigh of relief, accepting the call the second he recognized the number. "Siha …."

"Hey," she said, a weary smile spreading over her face, she looked exhausted and pale, and he saw the signs of pain in the creases of her brow and corner of her eyes. She wore his shirt, and it still warmed his heart, gratifying some unnamable part of him to see her in something belonging to him.

He smiled, glancing towards Kolyat and Drali before turning his attention back to her. "Kolyat is here, and Drali, too. I can go somewhere more private, if you wish." He hoped she'd accept his offer, he wanted to know what happened, but of course she couldn't tell him in front of the other two.

Pursing her lips, she turned down the corners of her mouth and shook her head. "It's alright, I probably won't stay on long. I just wanted to check in with you, see how you're doing. Let you know I'm okay." Her choice of words were simple, but he knew she chose them specifically for the implications—her injuries weren't lethal, the danger passed, and she wanted him to stop worrying.

Drali stood, and before Thane could say anything, the man rounded the table and bent down behind him, looking over his shoulder at the screen. "You look terrible."

She snorted, wincing a little, hardly enough for anyone to notice if they weren't looking for it, but Thane did. She was in pain, and he loathed the fact. "Hello, Drali."

"What happened to you?" Drali asked, grinning wide enough for Thane to see out of the corner of his eye. "And what's this I hear about a man staying with you?"

Thane sighed, shaking his head. He shot Drali a chastising look, but the man didn't pay him any attention, so he turned his gaze back to the Jasmine. "My apologies, my brother forgets himself."

Jasmine's eyebrow twitched, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smirk. Her gaze—filled with the mischievous challenge he'd grown used to seeing in her eyes—remained steady on Drali. "Who says anything happened to me? Can't a girl just be tired?"

She was saved from whatever retort Drali undoubtedly prepared to deliver when Kolyat stood, easing into Thane's side to look at the screen. A bright smile lit her face, gaze locking onto the boy. "Kolyat, hey."

"Hello, Jasmine." Kolyat shifted a little closer. "I am sorry you do not feel well."

"I'll be alright, I just had a long day." She lifted her left shoulder in a shrug, shifting the view on her omni-tool briefly, and Thane could tell, even with her opposite shoulder being the one reported as injured, the gesture caused her pain. "I'm sure I'll feel better after a good night's sleep."

"It's not yet so late there, is it?" Drali asked with a hum.

Thane glanced at him, lifting a brow ridge, wishing his brother would stop antagonizing Jasmine when she didn't feel well. "Her work requires her to be up quite early."

Drali looked at Thane, his eyes narrowing a fraction. "I see." He turned his attention back to Jasmine and grinned. "Well, then, I hope you rest well tonight and look better tomorrow."

She huffed, rolling her eyes but smiled. "Thanks."

Kolyat chuckled, glancing at his uncle. "Uncle Drali, be nice."

"I am nice, I gave her flowers while she was here." Drali glanced at Kolyat. "You should know, human women like flowers as gifts, but they sniff them, so don't give them any 'dwindling day.'"

He gave his uncle a dubious look, raising one of his brow ridges while tugging the other down.

Thane chuckled, tuning his attention back to Jasmine. "Indeed. Her name comes from a flower found on Earth, though she is infinitely more beautiful," he said, remembering their conversation about the scented candle in her apartment back on the Citadel.

"Yes," Drali drawled, "but does she smell better?"

Jasmine snorted, the resulting wince more obvious.

"Ah," Drali said, undoubtedly catching her slip, "I do hope you feel better in the morning, Earth flower Jasmine." He stood upright. "Come, Kolyat, let your father have a moment alone with her before she goes to bed."

"I—I wanted to say something first," Kolyat said, turning his attention back to the screen. "I owe you an apology, Jasmine. I am afraid I did not handle myself appropriately the last time we spoke. I hope you can forgive me, and know I wish you well."

Thane reached out, pressing his palm to Kolyat's back in support. He smiled at his son, offering Kolyat what reassurance he could when Kolyat glanced down at him. Turning his attention back to Jasmine, Kolyat relaxed a little.

She smiled, eyes softening around the edges. "I wish you well, too, Kolyat, but I've already forgiven you."

He dipped his head, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips, relief evident in the drop of his shoulders. "Goodnight, Jasmine."

"Goodnight," she said.

Drali and Kolyat left, heading down the hall toward Kolyat's room. Thane watched them go before letting out a heavy sigh and turning his gaze back to her. Shoulders sagging a little, he allowed his face and body to convey the depth of his concern for her once they were without audience.

"I'm alright, Thane, really." Her voice came out soft and low, as if she intended to soothe him when she was the one injured. Who could expect anything different from a siha?

He leaned in a little closer, wishing it were so easy to truly close the space between them. Gaze roaming over her, he soaked in her presence, despite the distance. "Tell me, and I will leave here tonight. I can be on the Citadel by morning."

She smiled and shook her head. "As much as I'd love to have you here, you need to be there right now. Besides, you've taken a job, and it sounded really important to you. And, for all I know, when Isaac gets back, he's going to rush us out of here. I may not even  _be_ on the Citadel in the morning."

"He's not there with you now?" He raised a brow ridge. "Ares is there though, yes? You're not alone."

"Ares took off after I left the clinic." She shook her head. "Isaac needed to go try to find the OSD we were supposed to get as part of the job. It wasn't on the guy we thought had it, and Isaac was more concerned with getting me taken care of than finding it. His superiors insisted he go back out and find it today, though."

Grateful Isaac chose to get Jasmine help first, Thane didn't wish to complain about the man performing his duties once she was safe.

 _But_ is  _she safe?_

He forced his features to still, choosing his next words carefully so as not to offend her. "Ares implied there may be more targets to be concerned about."

"If there are, and if they show up here, I'm still armed," she said, letting out a weary sigh, betraying the boldness of the statement.

"Siha." Thane frowned, he didn't like the idea of her being alone while injured, especially if there was even the smallest chance someone might come looking for her.

"Isaac will be back before you could make it here, anyway." She shifted on the couch, jaw clenching with the movement. "And when he is, I doubt I'll be able to convince him to leave my side. He's acting like an overprotective parent. Not that I'm complaining. Being shot sucks."

Realizing she was right, and perhaps he, too, behaved in an overprotective manner, he chuckled, dipping his head. "Indeed. The one who shot you, he is dead?"

Jasmine smirked, smugness hiding the pain in her eyes for just a moment. "With three of my bullets lodged in his face. And, I can now say I know what it feels like to get hit with a Reave."

"A Reave?" His brow ridge lifted. "He was biotic?" Indeed, it impressed him to know she'd survived such a close assault with a member of Blackwatch, but to hear she'd not only been the one to take the turian down but the target also commanded biotics … Thane felt proud.

"Yep." Gaze lowering, she seemed to consider something as she frowned. "Guess the Phantoms dropped the ball on that one, but Ares knew, so we had warning. Just didn't do me a whole lot of good one on one against the asshole."

He shifted, suddenly uncomfortable in his chair as he further considered just how easily she could've lost the fight. "And where was Ares and Isaac while you were fighting this man?"

"Taking care of others. He had backup, too." She pursed her lips. "Another thing the Phantoms failed to either be aware of or just inform us of. Things could've been much worse if I hadn't called in Ares."

Thane didn't understand how her people could be so ill-informed or simply fail to convey such vital details to their assassins. "I see." Still, if Ares' intel proved so valuable, perhaps Thane owed him a debt of gratitude.

"I wasn't supposed to take him on alone, but … sometimes things don't go as planned." She shifted again, squeezing her eyes closed and sucking in a sharp breath.

His fingers twitched, wanting to reach out to her, ease her suffering."Indeed." He frowned, watching her struggle from so far away frustrated him. He knew there wouldn't be much he could do for her even if he went there, but at least he could try. "Did the doctor not give you anything to help with the pain, siha?"

She met his gaze again, sadness and shame in her eyes. "I can't really … she gave me something when I first got to the clinic, but it was too much …" She swallowed, lowering her gaze. "... I liked it too much."

"Ah, of course." How foolish of him. "I didn't consider …." Even when she rescued him after he'd been stabbed on the Citadel and stayed with him at his apartment, she'd asked him to keep his medication out of sight.

She shrugged her left shoulder. "Isaac's going to bring me something to drink. It'll take the edge off."

He watched her, wishing he could run his hand over her face and smooth out the tight creases along her brow. "If there's anything I can do, you need only ask, siha."

She smiled. "I know. I'm going to get off of here and try to find a comfortable position. I love you."

"And I you." He hesitated, afraid to make his request least she take offense but eventually decided the peace of mind it'd bring him was worth her ire. "Please, message me when Isaac returns so I know you're not alone."

She snorted softly but didn't argue. "I will. Night."

"Goodnight, rest well." Thane closed his omni-tool when the screen went dark.

He put his face in the palms of his hands, taking in a slow, deep breath. The sound of a door opening drew his attention, and he looked up to see Drali watching him from the hallway, head tilted to the side. Thane clasped his hands together and smiled at his brother, nodding his head to tell Drali he'd finished his conversation.

Drali made his way down the hall and slid into his abandoned chair. Glancing over his shoulder towards Kolyat's room, he turned his attention back to Thane and leaned closer, voice pitched low, "Is she alright? It looked as if she's in pain."

Thane smiled, as much as Drali's lack of manners according to drell customs could be frustrating, the genuineness of his concern warmed Thane. "Indeed. She was injured, but she will be fine."

Drali hummed. "The look on your face when you received the message earlier tonight … the way you've looked all night since then … you didn't think she'd be fine, did you?"

"I—No. I suppose I didn't. The message I received came from her colleague, informing me of the accident, and he told me she'd be alright, but …." Thane waved a hand.

"But she is the first person you've allowed yourself to love since Irikah died. Hearing she'd been hurt, and with you so far away …." Drali propped his elbows on the table, glancing over his shoulder towards the room Kolyat had yet to leave. "I'm glad Jasmine is safe, Brother."

Thane dipped his head. "Indeed, and you have my thanks for keeping Kolyat occupied, both while I spoke to her and throughout the evening. I regret I wasn't able to be fully present with him, but with you here, he didn't seem to mind."

* * *

The sound of her door sliding open tore Jasmine from a light and fitful sleep. She reached over to the coffee table, picked up her pistol, and tried to push herself upright, choking back a pained gasp. After talking with Thane, every little noise she heard made her wonder if more Blackwatch members were coming after her. Even though she suspected it was only Isaac, she readied herself for an attack, flipping the safety off her gun.

"It's me, Sunshine, relax." Isaac's rich voice filled the air, easing the coiled knot of tension in the pit of her stomach.

She groaned, pushing the safety switch back into place and setting her gun back on the table before easing back against the pillows. "We're sticking with Sunshine?"

He rounded the back of the couch and smiled down at her. "I like it, I think it suits you, but if it bothers you," he said with a shrug, "I'll stop."

He tossed an OSD on her table then scooped a hand under her ankles, lifting her feet. Sliding onto the far end of the couch, he put her feet back down on his knee. She drew her legs back, giving him more room, and pushed herself up on the pillows a little. He held out a bottle, and though clearly marked rum, she'd never heard of the brand—which knowing Isaac, meant it cost more than she paid for a week's worth of food.

Speaking of food, she didn't even know the last time she ate. "I'm starving."

He grinned at her, standing back up from the couch and headed to her kitchen. Jasmine opened her omni-tool and sent Thane a quick message while Isaac distracted himself getting her food, letting Thane know she wasn't alone anymore. After a few minutes of rummaging around, Isaac returned with a sandwich, sliced  _risat_ , and a glass of iced tea. Setting the plate on the table, he helped her sit up further, adjusting the pillows behind her before handing her the plate and pulling the coffee table closer.

"Thanks." She took a long swallow of the tea before putting it back on the table and picked up the sandwich. "Where'd you find it?" she asked, nodding toward the OSD.

He sat back down and turned sideways, facing her. "C-Sec evidence. It was on Attis' body when they found him."

She snorted, annoyed by the revelation. She'd been the one to take down Attis, had been right there, if she'd stuck around, checked the body …. "Whatever connection you have in C-Sec is willing to just  _give_  you evidence?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Not exactly."

"You snuck into C-Sec and stole it?" She lifted an eyebrow, taking a bite of the roast beef sandwich, one of the only true Earth foods found on the Citadel.

"I got it back," Isaac said, leaning over and snagging a piece of  _risat_  from her plate. "That's all that matters." He popped it in his mouth and grabbed another before sitting back again.

She grunted, biting into her sandwich, taking her time chewing and swallowing. "What'd you say to Garrus earlier? The C-Sec guy at the clinic."

Isaac let out a low, heavy sigh. "More than I probably should've. I told him we were working an undercover op, and because he decided to ignore his superiors' orders, people were hurt who didn't need to be, including you," he said, turning his head to look at her pointedly. "I called one of my contacts with him standing right there and asked them to remind their officer that he'd been ordered to stand down. Then, I told him if he didn't back off, or if he blew your cover, I'd be sure to fill C-Sec in on the full extent of his insubordination and what it cost."

"You think it really would've gone much different if he wasn't tailing you?" She didn't blame Garrus for her getting shot, though she'd admit he probably forced her hand in killing Attis. Setting her sandwich on the plate, she popped the lid on her top-shelf rum.

"I think Attis wouldn't have spotted me, giving you a reason to kill him, and I wouldn't have needed to ask you for a distraction, making Remitun detour. Simtumus probably only moved into play when Attis didn't check in, which put you in a position to be on the roof alone with Remitun." Isaac shrugged, running a hand over his head. "So, yeah. Something else might've gone wrong, but we didn't get the chance to play it out and see because Garrus interfered. But, I shouldn't have said anything to him. I wasn't in a good state of mind, and when he walked in, I thought he came there to give you more shit."

She snorted, taking a heavy drink from the bottle, lifting an eyebrow at how smooth it went down. "That the 'emotional detachment' you mentioned the other night?"

He chuckled, stealing another piece of fruit from her plate. "Yeah, maybe."

She hummed, taking another drink as she mulled over the thoughts brewing in the back of her mind the last few hours. "Isaac?"

"Hmm?" He tilted his head back against the couch as he chewed.

"Do you think they really didn't know Remitun was a biotic, or he wouldn't be alone?" She picked at the label with her thumbnail.

He stayed quiet for so long, she started to think she'd made a mistake even asking him. Finally, he let out a tired sounding breath and looked at her. "They didn't need to tell me he wouldn't be alone, everyone knew I'd already know. This isn't the first time I've dealt with Blackwatch." He shrugged, tugging at one of the small, gold hoops in his ears. "I didn't mention it to you because I wanted to see you and Nemos, how you'd work together, what information you'd come up with on your own. If he didn't say it, I would've." He turned his attention to the OSD on the table. "But … I don't see how they didn't know he was a biotic, it should've been in the dossier. It might've just been an oversight, though. Happens sometimes. I'd hoped Nemos was wrong about that one."

Jasmine sucked on her teeth, wishing she believed it something as simple and innocuous as an oversight. "They seemed to really want to pin things going sideways on me."

He looked at her, gaze intense as he pulled his eyebrows in. "You think they were trying to set you up?"

She shrugged her left shoulder, still it sent a twinge of pain through her right. "You heard The Bitch. Uh, I mean Langston."

He snorted, stretching out the leg hanging over the side of the couch. "Nah, 'The Bitch' is pretty apt."

"They're never going to be happy I'm not still locked up for killing Leon." She took a heavy swallow of rum, already feeling the warmth dulling the pain. "Maybe they didn't intentionally leave out intel, but …."

_And maybe they did._

"But she would've been more than happy if I'd agreed and said you were to blame." He nodded, pursing his lips. "Listen, Jasmine," he said, sitting up straighter as he held her gaze, "what went down with Leon, in my eyes, it's not on you. It was my choice to take you on, and I wouldn't have if I thought for  _even a second_  your actions weren't justified." He shook his head and waved a hand at nothing in particular. "I'm not going to just throw you to the wolves. If they're looking for a reason to go after you, they're not going to get it from me. It's my job to protect you, to make sure while you're out there, you have everything you need to do your job and stay safe—not hang you out to dry. If that's what they want, what they expect from me, then they chose the wrong damn man."

"Yeah," she said, voice soft as she let her thoughts wander, trying to piece together shit in her mind.

"Hey," Isaac said, waiting for her to look at him again before he continued, "You did good, Jasmine. You were in a fucked position, and you still came out on top."

"If I'd been alone," she said, hating to admit the fact outloud, "I'd probably have bled out on the roof or been found by C-Sec, still alive but next to a dead body."

"If you were alone, you wouldn't have been on the roof. You probably wouldn't have been assigned someone in Blackwatch with more than a decade of experience on you, and had you, you probably would've kept your distance and taken him out with your rifle." He shook his head, stretching his arm out over the back of the couch. "Don't sell yourself short. The circumstances weren't ideal, but you took out two members of Blackwatch on your own. Hell, you should be proud. I am."

Heat crept up Jasmine's throat and face, but she blamed it on the alcohol. "Thanks." She took another swallow before returning to her plate. "So what now?"

"Now we wait for the clean up team. They'll take care of what C-Sec found, get rid of what they didn't, and tell me where to meet them to deliver the OSD." He glanced at her again. "Then, I'm getting you off the Citadel until you've recovered."

She snorted, expecting as much. "Where am I going?"

"Ferris Fields," he said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why Ferris Fields?"

"I've got another operative there, a long-term, espionage specialist. I check in on him periodically, and it'll be a good place for you to rest." He smiled, stealing more  _risat_  from her plate, convincing her that he'd really put it there for himself to begin with. "I'll have him teach you a few things while you're down."

She bit back the urge to tell him that Leon did his best to keep her separate from the other Phantoms, for everyone's protection. If Isaac wanted to have her chill with another operative, who was she to argue? "Huh. Never been to Ferris Fields."


	18. Surprising Revelations

**Surprising Revelations**

Ferris Fields sucked. And Isaac sucked for bringing her there. The colony was small and cold, and the people were too damn nosey. Or maybe, Jasmine just felt overly bitchy because she had a hole in her stomach, another in her shoulder, and no decent pain meds to help. Because of course she told Isaac not to let her have the good stuff; of course she told him she was a recovering addict.

Raúl sucked, too. At least she felt pretty sure that opinion had nothing to do with her bitchiness. The man was an ass. He gave her a quick once over when Isaac presented her to him and sniffed with enough disdain to make her want to strangle him right then and there. Still, he didn't turn her and Isaac away, which meant Jasmine got stuck working with him in his prefab office slash home during the days and sleeping in another prefab—Raúl owned—next door with Isaac at night. Which also meant she couldn't really spend her days in a drunken stupor to fight off her pain, either.

And where the hell did Isaac keep disappearing off to?

They'd been on Ferris Fields four days, and after the first two spent hovering over Jasmine and Raúl—he said to make sure they'd manage to get along without pulling weapons out on one another—Isaac started leaving them alone. At first, he just did his own thing in another room while Raúl made her do asinine research on the functionality of computers, first hardware, then software. Initially, she didn't really see why she needed to learn about hardware, what the hell did it really have to do with hacking? But eventually, begrudgingly, she admitted the jackass knew his shit and wasn't steering her in the wrong direction, even if he did make it all harder than it needed to be. He could've just as easily  _told_  her those things, but no, he made her spend hours digging through manuals to eventually figure out how important processing power was for coding and hacking before making her research firewalls.

Then that evening, Isaac said he was 'going out' and stayed gone for five hours. He left again for another two hours the next morning. There it was the middle of the afternoon and Isaac was putting his coat on again.

"I'm heading out, Sunshine." He stepped into the room with her, leaning against the desk she worked at. "You need me to get anything while I'm out?"

She shook her head. "I'm good." Turning in her chair to face him, she stretched her legs out a little and rolled her sore shoulder. Truth be told, both injuries hurt far less than the day she woke up in the clinic high out of her mind, but they still slowed her down and pissed her off. "So, what? You got a secret lover in this crap hole you keep running off to see?"

Isaac smirked, shaking his head. "If I did, and he was a secret, would I tell you?"

She stuck her lip out in an exaggerated pout. "You keep leaving me here with  _him_. I don't like him."

"And he doesn't like you," Raúl said, lifting his gaze up from his desk. "You're like an annoying newborn, every time you open your mouth, I want to gag you."

"Really? That's it?" Jasmine glanced at him, scoffing. "Every time you open  _your_  mouth, I want to put a bullet between your eyes."

"Children." Isaac let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "Raúl, be nice to your  _sister_ , she's been shot. Jasmine, stop antagonizing your  _brother_."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Thought you didn't want me calling you Dad?"

Isaac stroked his chin. "I'm more like the more attractive, better skilled, slightly older brother who can pin both of your asses to the wall if you two don't stop fighting."

Snorting, she crossed her arms. "How long will you be gone?"

He shrugged. "I'll be back to help you with the stairs later and run you through your exercises."

She nodded, dreading the exercises he'd assigned to her to help her rehabilitate her shoulder while it continued to heal. She didn't doubt he knew what he was talking about, but they hurt like a sonofabitch.

_Note to self: Don't get shot._

Isaac left, and silence surrounded her once more as she turned her attention back to the totally insulting quiz Raúl worked up for her to take before letting her move on to anything more advanced. It only took her a few more minutes to finish, and she needed to get up and move around a little, so she figured she'd take it over to him to checkover. Pushing herself to her feet, she bit back a whine as the dull ache in her abdomen and shoulder turned into lancing pain. Standing there for a second to take a few breaths, the pain receded a little, and she picked up the datapad. Taking her time, she crossed the room to drop the datapad down on Raúl's desk, earning her a delightful glare.

Picking up the datapad, he leaned back in his chair, saying nothing as he scrolled through her answers. Turning his gaze back to his computer, he sat upright and held the datapad out to her. "Do it again."

"Bullshit, I didn't get them wrong." She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning her weight on her left leg to remove some of the pressure on her wound.

"Answers four and twenty are incomplete." He waved the datapad, still not looking at her. "You gave the what but not the  _why_."

She huffed, snatching the datapad back from him. "Okay, so I'll just—"

"Do it again. It'll reinforce the knowledge anyway," he said, moving his hands back to his keyboard.

Jasmine scoffed. "Are all techies this—"

"Tired of your shit?" Voice dry, he lifted an eyebrow. "Yes."

"You know …." She narrowed her eyes, glancing over her shoulder at him as she turned to make her way back to her desk. "You're a real asshole."

* * *

Thane pulled Kolyat in against his chest and kissed his son's head. "I will call you as often as I can, you have my word." He leaned back enough to catch Kolyat's gaze. "I will be returning to Kahje in a few months for a follow up with my doctors, and I will see you then as well."

"I will miss you, Father." Kolyat blinked, tears spilling down his face.

Thane brought a hand to the boy's cheek, wiping the tears away. "And I you, my son. I love you, Kolyat. Being able to spend my time here with you has brought me great joy."

"I wish I could go with you." Kolyat's lower lip trembled before he pressed it tight against the top. "I know I cannot, and I understand. I just wish things were different."

"I know, and I'm sorry." Thane leaned in to kiss Kolyat's forehead again, he'd grown so much in the short amount of time Thane spent on Kahje, he didn't have to reach far. "I will be in transit for a few hours at least, call me tonight, after dinner, and we'll see if I can offer assistance with your homework."

Rone and Kelena pulled Kolyat out of school to say goodbye to Thane. He'd stayed two days past his discharge, spending every possible second with Kolyat, doing his best to prepare his son for his departure as well as showing Kolyat how much he meant to Thane. Rone and Kelena insisted Thane stay with them after he checked out of the rehabilitation facility until he left Kahje. It hadn't been quite as awkward as he'd thought, but still, the full house left him little privacy and few quiet moments to meditate.

He'd prepared dinner for the family the first night there, urging Kelena to sit down and relax. It was the least he could do to repay them for their hospitality. Kolyat sat at the table, and Thane helped him with his homework while cooking. A beautiful, serene moment, but it felt like a lie to Thane. He loved his son, just as he loved Rone and Kelena, but he didn't belong there, not quite so integrated at least. He didn't belong in a kitchen, cooking a meal for his family why he plotted the death of a woman he'd never met; the granddaughter of a woman who felt more like his mother than the woman who'd given him life.

The days were spent with Kolyat. They'd gone to his favorite restaurants, the theater, the gardens, and even back to Kalahira's Threshold to look at the fish. They'd spent quiet time at home, simply talking about school, Kolyat's friends, and a conflict he'd had with another student. They spoke of Jasmine a few times, and even though Thane saw Kolyat truly tried to be accepting, he still held some reservations about her relationship to his father. Thane hoped a day would come when those doubts were cast aside for good.

They all huddled together beneath the fronds of a nearby tree, trying to stay dry, the shuttle awaiting Thane a handful of meters away. Drali even came to say goodbye, but of course, Aleha stayed home with her newborn, not that she would've shown up either way.

Rone stepped forward, resting a hand on Kolyat's back, and Kolyat moved aside, wiping tears from his face. Rone reached out to squeeze Thane's shoulder. "Be well, Brother. We look forward to your return."

Thane returned the gesture and dipped his head. "Thank you, Brother. Please, if you need anything, allow me the opportunity to assist however I can."

Rone smiled, dipping his head before moving away to stand with Kolyat. He pulled Kolyat into his side, wrapping an arm around Kolyat's shoulder and spoke to him in hushed tones. Thane turned to Kelena, giving Rone and Kolyat their privacy.

The woman stepped into him, pressing her cheek to his. "I hope to see you again soon, Brother," Kelena said.

Thane's brow ridge twitched in surprise. He'd never given it much thought, but she'd never called him by anything other than his name before. He took no offense, of course, and he didn't believe for a moment it was an indication she thought less of him; he just assumed such traditions didn't hold as much importance to her as they did her husband. It only made the term that much more impactful to hear her use it to say goodbye.

He smiled, returning the affectionate gesture. "And I you, Sister."

Kelena grinned, brushing droplets of water off his jacket before going to Kolyat. The three of them waved as they turned, moving back toward the domed city, leaving Thane standing with Drali. The younger drell moved to Thane's side.

"He'll be alright, Thane," Drali said as they both watched the others walk away.

"Indeed?" Thane tucked his hands behind his back. He shifted his attention to the other drell, who turned to look at the waiting shuttle with longing. "I'm glad he has you, but I wonder if you're happy here."

Drali glanced at him. "Kahje isn't the worst place in the galaxy to be … but I do miss traveling."

"Perhaps you should take a vacation, go visit someplace new, just for a short while," Thane said, waving a hand.

"Like Omega?" Drali lifted a brow ridge.

"Omega?" Thane blinked twice, tilting his head a little. "I'm not sure I'd suggest Omega for vacation, Drali."

"No? Perhaps it's just a good place to work, then?" Drali stuck his hands in his pockets. "Will Jasmine be there to?"

Thane's mind stalled, his jaw falling loose as he realized what Drali implied. "I—no, Jasmine will not be on Omega. I wasn't aware you'd researched my itinerary." Which meant Drali was also aware Thane planned to travel under his alias.

Drali smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm curious, to a fault, I've been told." He hummed, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "You will go to her, yes?"

"Indeed, as soon as I am able." Thane dipped his head.

"She is good for you, and I think you for her." Drali turned his gaze back to the shuttle. "But first, you have work on Omega?"

"I do," Thane said, hoping the clipped response brought an end to the current line of conversation—and with any other drell, it would've.

"I have a theory, about what you do for a living, Thane. Do you care to hear it?" Drali kept his gaze on the shuttle as he spoke.

Resigned, Thane dipped his head again, knowing Drali saw the gesture in his peripherals. "If you wish." He didn't know what he expected Drali to say, but he hoped his brother would do the work of misleading himself, preventing Thane from having to lie.

"Perhaps it is more than a theory." Drali's gaze slid away to take in Thane for a brief moment before returning to the shuttle. "I've heard whispers, of your name, since you returned." He paused, mouth open as if considering his next words—something Drali didn't seem to do all too often. "People speak of you with awe and fear."

Thane stilled, watching the younger man, unease settling in heavily around his shoulders. It never occurred to him Drali might've actually discovered the truth. Thane wouldn't  _do_  anything about it should the man say what he feared, of course, Drali was his brother—Irikah's brother, Kolyat's uncle. "What do they say?"

Drali hummed, glancing at Thane. "They say you were trained in the Compact, as an assassin for the hanar. They say you continue to practice those skills even though you've left the service of the Compact, and  _you_  are one of the best."

Heart picking up speed, Thane swallowed, turning his gaze to the shuttle. "People say a lot of things, Brother." He didn't wish to confirm those rumors, even though he trusted Drali well enough to keep his secret. It brought him little comfort to know Rone knew the truth of who he was, to know his work disturbed Rone, even if Rone still welcomed him as family. However, he doubted Drali accepted the words as the dismissal they were meant to be.

Drali lifted his brow ridge again. "Indeed, they do, but not all of them are lies."

"No," Thane said, taking a slow, deep breath despite the humid air before returning his gaze to Drali, "not all." It was the best he could offer the man.

Drali smirked, turning to Thane and holding his arms opened, and Thane breathed a relieved sigh, believing he meant to leave it alone. "A shame you must go, I find I've rather enjoyed getting to know you better, Brother." He wrapped his arms around Thane when he stepped into the embrace. "Perhaps I will take a vacation, when you are not too busy with work, and come to see you and Jasmine?" He stepped back, hands holding Thane's shoulders.

"Ah." Thane dipped his head, considering the request. He wasn't adverse to the idea, but it might be difficult to schedule such a visit between Thane and Jasmine's contracts. "Perhaps."

Drali grinned, flashing his teeth at Thane before leaning in and kissing him loudly on the cheek. "For Jasmine."

Thane chuckled, patting his brother's arm. "Be well, Drali."

Drali let go of Thane and stepped back. "Be well, Thane."

* * *

"I hate you." Jasmine glared at Isaac as he stabilized her shoulder with one hand, lifting her arm up and out to the side with the other.

He gave her an infuriating smile and asked, "How's your work with Raúl coming along?"

"I hate him, too." She grit her teeth against a twinge of pain. "Why exactly are you having me work with him?"

"Why not?" He raised an eyebrow. "He's got skills you can learn, and you can't do a whole lot else right now."

She grunted and let her gaze wander down to Isaac's chest, remembering the scars hidden behind his slate gray shirt. "How long is this going to take to heal?" She glanced up to see him staring at her, and she felt embarrassed, believing he must've known what she was thinking.

He lowered her arm before rotating it and bringing it forward, lifting it towards himself, her thumb brushing against his ribs. "The Medi-gel can be removed in a couple of days. The protein fiber mesh Chloe put in your shoulder will be completely dissolved within three weeks, but it'll probably be at least another two to three weeks before you'll be ready for light active." He watched her for a second before asking, "You've never been shot before, have you?"

She shook her head. "Just grazing wounds."

Isaac hummed, falling silent while he worked her shoulder, slowly turning her arm to a palm up position and back again. "How's your pain?"

"Still hurts, but it's getting better." She shrugged with her other shoulder. "Standing is the worst on my abdomen, but laying down is worse for my shoulder—no matter how I lay."

He nodded, seeming to know exactly what she meant. Isaac lowered her arm to her side before moving over to grab the elastic strip from the counter. He stood behind her, handing her one end of the band before guiding her arm up, bending the elbow so she reached behind her back. Jasmine closed her eyes, sucking in a slow breath. The tension on the other end of the elastic tightened, and she began to pull against the band, extending her arm back up.

"Am I staying here until I'm okay for active?" she asked, half because she wanted to know and half to distract herself from the pain.

"Maybe. A couple more weeks at least, then we'll see how you're doing."

She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder at the man standing behind her. She wanted to see him as much because it proved incredibly difficult to carry on a conversation with someone she couldn't see while in the same room as it was because her training and instincts told her not to give an easy target to the assassin. Not only would glancing over her shoulder hurt, but he'd also just make her turn back around for the exercise to keep from straining something else. "Are you planning on sticking around the whole time?"

"Why, you trying to get rid of me?"

_Yes. I want to see Thane._

"No … I just figured you have shit to do." She waved her left hand before letting it flop back down against her thigh. "Other responsibilities."

"Don't worry about me, I'm still taking care of my responsibilities." He lowered his end of the strip, adding more tension. "It's one of the perks of being a handler: for the most part, I can do my job from just about anywhere."

She fell silent, counting out the reps in her head. Finally, Isaac eased up on the band and helped her guide her arm back to her side. He moved around in front of her, stretching the elastic out between his fists, demonstrating the tension level he wanted her to use. She took a breath easing her arm back up and grabbed the elastic on either side, just inside of his grip. He let go, moving his hands to her elbows as she brought her fists together and then stretched them back out again.

She looked up, taking in his face as he watched her progress. "Isaac?" she said, and he glanced up. "Do you … do you trust the Alliance?"

He smirked, taking her by surprise. "I've been waiting for you to ask me that ever since you told me about Leon's vid." Turning his attention back to her exercises, he lifted his hands to her shoulders, gently guiding them down and back. "The short answer: not entirely. The Alliance is an organization, it's only as trustworthy as the people who run it. I don't know everyone in the Alliance, but I've come to trust some of those I do know. I've learned there are some I can't."

She dropped her gaze, finishing her reps in silence before moving on to the next exercise. Handing one end of the elastic over to Isaac as he moved to her left, she stretched her arm out to the side, locking her elbow as she started lowering her fist down toward her thigh. Bringing her arm back up, the band slid across the tender spot on her abdomen and she winced. He adjusted, holding the band further out from her body, preventing it from happening again.

"Talk to me, Jasmine," he said, halfway through the exercise, his voice soft and unobtrusive.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't tell him about what she'd found, about Cerberus and her suspicions. Even if she trusted him not to run off and tell the Phantoms on her—which, surprisingly, she realized she did—if she told him, she put him in the line of fire, too. He'd been really good to her, it wouldn't be fair to him.

"You still don't trust me?"

She opened her eyes to look at him, brow furrowing. "It's not that."

"Because I'm your handler?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow in question.

She scraped her teeth across the edge of her lower lip, looking away from him again. "No … if I'm wrong, or even if I'm right … I don't want to put you in that position."

He loosened the tension on the band, staring at her until she met his gaze. "One time offer: anything you say to me here and now never leaves this room unless you say so, no matter what it is, on my life. If it's something I regret hearing, that's on me. I'm a grown man, Jasmine, and not your subordinate. It's not your job to worry about me, it's mine to worry about you." He held her gaze until she let out a sigh and nodded. Jerking his head toward the couch, he said, "Let's sit down."

* * *

Thane stepped out onto the docks of Omega, taking in a shallow breath, filling his nostrils with the stench that was the station. Grime and filth covered every surface of the place—and the people who called it home. He tucked his hands behind his back, clenching his fist as he took a moment to compartmentalize, tucking away the memories of his last visit to Omega. Jasmine had been right when she asked if the thread on ' _Assassins Unveiled'_ about the 'One-Hour Massacre', as it came to be called, was his doing, and just as she suspected, they were not professional kills. They were rage-fueled and filled with torture. Their blood stained his hands, and a part of him knew, given the same circumstances, he'd do it all over again.

He waited for the crowd to clear, leaving the entryway to the station empty aside for himself. Opening his omni-tool, he ran the program to check if there were any monitoring devices in the immediate area. Unsurprised to see Omega didn't add that particular security feature since his last visit, he closed his omni-tool again and pushed up onto the ledge of the wall, sliding himself through one of the partially opened windows. The entry hall was built right up against the asteroid walls, but still, he was able to squeeze between the two and pull himself up, shifting to a low crouch on top of the hall's ceiling. He held no intention of moving through the station itself, at least not where possible. The less anyone saw him, the better.

Creeping along the shaft, he moved into the shadows as the tunnel widened into the cavern where the most popular section of Omega was built. He glanced down at the glowing lights of Afterlife and the masses gathered around the nightclub's entrance, begging for the chance to be allowed inside. He already knew where Sahnira stayed while on the station, so he thankfully had no need to go anywhere near Afterlife. The place was a hundred times worse than Chora's Den, and he detested it when he needed to go there while working on the Citadel.

Climbing the infrastructure, he made his way up to the catwalks. He'd need to drop down again once he neared the taxi stand, Sahnira took up residence in the Gozu District. Although he could make his way through the current district, down through the apartments sector, and take a shuttle directly to the Gozu District, he didn't wish to risk having to share transportation with the denizens of Omega.

He made his way to the taxi stand and waited, watching as a turian and an asari climbed into a cab together and the vehicle took off, before he dropped down from the catwalks. Staying to the shadows, he moved to the next skycar in line and climbed inside, closing the door behind him. He entered his destination and sat back as the taxi lifted into the air. The skycar moved out over the barrier and dropped down over the edge, lowering him further into the mines before reentering the solid structures of the station.

He arrived at the Gozu District, three blocks from Sahnira's apartment, and the skycar settled down on the platform. Thane glanced through the window, catching sight of a few people at the far end, batarians and vorcha, but their backs were turned. He stepped out of the taxi and slipped into the shadows, leaping up to a ladder leading into the maintenance shafts. He'd be able to stay completely hidden, unless someone else entered the shafts, until he reached Sahnira's apartment, the shafts letting out just behind where she lived.

Halfway there, he stopped, voices floating up to him through the vents. He made no noise the sounds of Omega wouldn't cover, but he heard someone say Sahnira's name, so he wanted to listen.

"Is she back in the game, then?" The voice carried the heavy flanging of a turian.

"She's back, yeah," The second voice sounded batarian, but he found it difficult to be certain. "Crazy bitch."

"Did she bring any stock?" the turian asked.

"Yeah, just a couple she rode out of Kahje with, they were headed to Illium on vacation, but she convinced them to board another ship and visit Omega." The hissing, dry cough of a laugh assured Thane the speaker was, in fact, batarian. "Germak met her at the docks to help bring them in, they've taken them down below with the others."

The turian hummed. "Do we know when the collectors are supposed to show back up?"

"Nah, but we'll just hold them in the barn until they do," the batarian said, and the voices started to move away from the vents, away from Sahnira's apartment.

Thane pressed on, turning the conversation over in his mind. If Sahnira already held drell captives—and by the sound of it, other captives as well in 'the barn'—then he couldn't leave until he'd found them. If it were anywhere but Omega, he might consider passing the news on to the authorities and letting them stage a rescue, but on Omega there was only one authority, and he already knew how little  _she_  cared.

Double checking his location and making certain the area was clear, he turned, lowering himself down the ladder before dropping to the ground below. Moving to the shadows, he all but pressed his back to the filthy wall and edged around the side of the building. He waited, staying in cover as people passed by. Once he felt they'd put enough distance between themselves and him, he turned the corner, already opening his omni-tool. He'd much rather enter from above, but the apartment ventilation systems on Omega were unaccommodating, and there wasn't sufficient crawl space between the ceiling and roof. It took him only a few seconds to hack through the locked door, and then he was inside Sahnira's apartment.

The lights in the small, cramped living room were off, leaving Thane in shadows. A light coming from a room down the hall told him where Sahnira was most likely located, but still he waited and listened. The soft sound of a whimper drew his attention, the sound most certainly coming from the lit room. Eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, he moved forward, first checking the kitchen on the other side of the wall next to the door to be certain it stood empty of any surprise guests.

A pained groan trickled down the hall, encouraging Thane forward. He stopped, checking the only other door in the apartment to find an empty bathroom. Glancing back down to the opened door, he kept moving, catching sight of a dresser shoved against the nearest wall, and then the edge of a bed. He took two more steps and stopped, assessing the scene unfolding in front of him.

Sahnira sat on the bed, back to Thane, with a young asari, perhaps a hundred years old. Their various states of undress might've made it clear enough the two were engaged in an intimate moment, but the look on the asari's face said something entirely different. The dark, nictitating membrane asari pulled over their eyes during a melding blocked her irises, but tears streamed from those wide eyes. Her brow pulled in, creating deep fissures across her skin, and her mouth twisted into a grimace. Clearly, whatever the two were involved in, the asari wasn't enjoying herself. She seemed to be struggling, unable to end the meld, and terrified by whatever she saw in Sahnira's mind. She whimpered again, the sound stretching out into an agonized whine.

Thane moved into the room, taking one glance at Sahnira's face—disturbed by her malicious grin, her eyes just as unseeing as the asari's—to verify she was, in fact, his target. He pulled his pistol out, the sound of it whirring to life seemed to rouse Sahnira enough for her grasp over the asari's mind to slacken, as he'd hoped. The asari sucked in a deep, gasping breath of air, throwing herself away from Sahnira, and Sahnira's head whipped around to look up at Thane, lips pulled back in a feral snarl. He pulled the trigger.

* * *

Jasmine watched Isaac, chewing on her lip, wishing he'd say  _something_. Anything. But, he stayed silent, watching her, face expressionless. She abandoned her lip, bringing her thumbnail up to gnaw on instead. He shifted to the edge of the chair, bracing his elbows on his knees, pressing his clasped hands against his mouth, but still he just watched her. She let out a heavy sigh and pushed herself off the couch, using the arm as a crutch to help her get to her feet. He tracked her movements with his gaze, not offering to help in anyway.

She made her way over to the kitchen, opening the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. She didn't much care for whiskey, but it appeared to be in abundance on Ferris Fields, rum not so much. Another reason the colony sucked. She carried the bottle back to the couch, wedging it between her knees to use her left hand to unscrew the lid. Dropping the lid on the table, she glanced at Isaac again. She took a heavy swallow, using the alcohol to both dull the pain and calm her nerves before setting it down next to the lid.

After a moment, Isaac leaned forward and picked up the bottle, bringing it to his lips. He took a deep pull of the whiskey, surprising Jasmine, before he held it in his hand and looked at the label. A few seconds later, he took another heavy drink and then set it back on the table within her reach.

"I don't even know where to start …. It's like … you opened your mouth and the list of things the Alliance could bring you in on just kept growing." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I'm not saying I don't get it, because I do. I don't know if I would've handled it all the same way or not, but I can see why you'd be tempted to go digging deeper." He shook his head, flopping back in the chair with a humorless laugh, staring at the ceiling. "But I mean,  _fuck_  Jasmine, you're killing me here."

"I shouldn't have said anything." She picked up the whiskey bottle, mentally kicking herself in the ass for being stupid enough to think he might actually see her side of things … might actually help.

"Don't. Don't do that." He sat up straight, looking at her again. "I already told you, I don't like what I heard, it's on me. Doesn't mean I regret you telling me." Pushing to his feet, he started pacing the floor, his brow slowly pulling lower and lower with every few steps.

Jasmine drank and watched him pace, opting for silence for the time being. She didn't have a clue what went on in Isaac's head, but she saw the gears turning. After a few minutes, she let out a dejected sigh and rested her head on the back of the couch, closing her eyes.

"Okay," Isaac said, drawing her attention.

"Okay?" She raised an eyebrow, confusion making her shake her head.

"Okay. I believe you." He stopped, standing in the middle of the floor to face her. "There's a connection there, and it doesn't look good." Crossing his arms, he glanced at the floor before looking back at her. "I'll help you figure this thing out, on one condition."

Stunned, she licked her lips and took another drink before asking, "Which is?"

"We do this my way." He moved back to the chair, sitting on the edge, turning a little to face her. "No more going off on your own, no more digging through secured accounts, no more divulging sensitive information about the Alliance to people  _outside_  of the Alliance without my say so. I want your word. Can you handle that?"

She swallowed another drink, buying herself a minute to think. If she agreed to it, if she made Isaac that promise, she'd have to censor what she told Thane. She didn't like the idea of that at all, but she liked the idea of never finding answers—or worse, drawing attention to herself and getting killed—even less. She nodded. "Yeah," she said, and then again more for her sake than his, "Yeah, I can handle that. You have my word."

"Alright." He gave her a slow nod. "I'll tell you what I know about Cerberus, but I want to see what you've already dug up, including the messages between Leon and his father, and the ones with the admiral."


	19. Glimpse of Insanity

**Glimpse of Insanity**

"Are you hurt?" Thane asked the asari cowering in the corner on the floor.

Her gaze drifted back and forth between Sahnira's corpse and himself. She shook her head, though confusion and uncertainty, fear and pain, still filled her eyes.

He picked up the dress he thought belonged to her and draped it over the edge of the bed within her reach. Averting his gaze, he said, "Get dressed, wash your face. Make sure there is no blood on you anywhere. Then leave this place and never mention to anyone what happened here tonight. Tell no one you saw me. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I think you saved my life. Thank you."

He didn't say anything, keeping the asari in his peripherals as she dressed. After a moment, she skirted around the bed. He turned to watch her progress as she left the room, making her way down the hall towards the bathroom. He followed, pistol still in his grip, and waited outside the door, listening to the sounds of her sobbing and the water running.

When the door opened again, the asari stepped out, hesitating as she glanced between Thane and the direction of the front door. She took two steps towards the door before stopping and turning back to him. "There are people … I saw them in her mind, locked away in the mines … she was, oh Goddess, she planned to sell them."

Thane took a step closer before he could think better of it, raising a brow ridge. "You know where they are?"

"I … I think so. I can show you," she said, moving toward him unexpectedly, hands outstretched.

Thane raised his pistol, and she stopped dead in her tracks, violet eyes filling with fear once more. "My apologies, I don't mean to frighten you, but I can't allow a melding." He lowered his gun. "Can you take me there instead?"

She nodded, so he dipped his head, holding a hand out toward the exit. He'd come back to look through Sahnira's things later, he had the opportunity to help her captives immediately, he wouldn't pass it up.

* * *

He followed the asari through the mines, the longer he stayed with her, the more uncomfortable she made him. Uncertain what exactly, but he thought something seemed off about her. Every now and again, she turned her head to the side, as if listening to something only she heard. He asked her once if she felt alright, but she only nodded.

He remembered what Alahana said about Sahnira's soul and mind being broken, and he wondered if somehow, Sahnira managed to do the same to the asari. "What is your name?" he asked, watching the shadows dance across her as she passed beneath the floodlights bolted to the asteroid.

The asari looked over her shoulder at him, blinking. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked what is your name?" He studied her face, noting the complete lack of any sort of expression before she turned back the other way.

"Corlina," she said, void of any emotion, the sound echoing off the mines.

"Corlina, forgive me for prying, but what was she doing to you? You looked as if you were in pain," he asked, watching her back.

"She … showed me things I've never seen before."

"Indeed?" Thane said after a few moments of silence. "What things?"

She reached up, rubbing at her temples. "I … I don't know how to describe them. They were enormous, and frightening … and beautiful."

Thane drew in his brow, frowning at the woman's back. He was just about to ask her what she meant when she stopped, turning to point down the next tunnel. He moved closer, turning his head to look. Distracted by the door a few meters in, he almost didn't see the attack coming. He spun, biotics gathering in one hand as he brought the other arm up to block the wild blow from Corlina. He unleashed the blue fire, and it wrapped itself around the asari, lifting her off the ground and throwing her against the wall. Before she could recover, he moved to her, arm wrapping around her throat, putting pressure against the arteries carrying oxygenated blood to her brain.

She struggled for only a moment before the fight left her, and she went limp in his arms. The woman was clearly unwell, even if Thane didn't understand how or why. He laid her down on the floor of the mine and made his way to the door. He saw no sign of cameras, but he didn't take the time to run his program to check properly. Corlina wouldn't be asleep for long, if he wished to try to save her, he needed to secure her somewhere inside. He'd deal with whatever security 'the barn' might have once he dealt with the asari.

Thane hacked through the large, industrial door, and lights flicked on inside as the doors slid apart. He glanced around, immediately scanning for any new threats. Cells lined the walls to the left and right, a dozen or so of them filled with people scurrying away from the intrusion, pressing themselves against the walls furthest from the doors. A terminal occupied the far wall, along with a desk and what looked like exam tables. His stomach turned when he saw an asari strapped to one of the tables, vivisected, ribs spread and left open to the air.

Drawing his pistol, he moved into the cavernous room, his gaze barely trailing over the asari, drell, krogan, turian, batarian, humans, and salarians stuffed inside. Making his way to the back, he wanted to be certain no threats lingered, hidden beyond site from the door. He almost wished he hadn't because, tucked back in a corner, discarded like refuse, he found a pile of rotting bodies. The massive fans above the heap did little to remove the foul odor once he'd come close. He brought a fist to his mouth and coughed, moving away from the stench.

Buckets and jars sat on a nearby table, filled with various organs, some removed with a surgical precision while others appeared ripped from their bodies. Used tools lay scattered across a rolling table, blue, violet, and red blood splattered across the surfaces. Steeling himself, he reached out and touched the arm of the asari strapped to one of the exam tables. Still warm.

Thane moved to the console, finding the controls to open individual cells and unlocked one not currently occupied near the entrance. On his way back past the cells, a few prisoners brave enough to steal a glance at him cried out to him, banging on the glass to get his attention.

He stopped, in front of the cell with the two drell he'd heard the batarian and turian talking about earlier. "I—I'm going to get you out of here." He glanced around, dread and uncertainty filling his mind. What if the captives were just as ill as Corlina, as Sahnira? He couldn't just let them out, not until he felt certain it was safe—for his sake as well as everyone else's they may encounter. "I'm going to find a doctor. I'll be back as quickly as I can."

The woman began to cry when he stepped away, and the sight of her tore at him, so he pulled his battle sleep back around him and did what he must do. He left the room, stepping outside to lift Corlina into his arms and carried her to the open cell. Laying her down on the bare floor, he closed the door behind him, making certain it locked. Then, he walked out of 'the barn', relocking the nightmare room on his way out.

* * *

Thane watched the doctor from the dark recess of the clinic, standing in a hall, filled with crates and void of lighting. Age showed plainly on the salarian's weathered face, his right horn broken down to a nub. Still, he moved with an alertness and grace that spoke of the STG training Thane heard rumor of.

"No, no, no. Dextro samples must be kept separately." Dr, Solus waved his hands erratically as he spoke to the asari helping him sort through vials. "Told you twenty times already. Cross contamination between dextro and levo samples ruins validity of research! Go. Go see if Malcolm needs assistance."

"I'm sorry, Professor," the asari's cheeks darkened as she turned, hurrying out of the room.

Dr. Solus let out a heavy sigh, and then, quite unexpectedly, he drew a pistol and pointed it dead at Thane, not even looking. "Come out now."

Lifting a brow ridge, Thane stepped out of the shadows, hands tucked behind his back. "I mean you no harm, doctor."

Dr. Solus sniffed, the sound almost disdainful as he finally turned to look at Thane. "Know who you are. What you are. Saw you on Omega before; mess you left behind. What do you want? Why are you here?"

Thane sucked in a deep breath, wishing for a moment salarians didn't have eidetic memories just as drell. They were lucky, however, they didn't have to deal with the intrusions of unwanted memories forcing themselves back into reality. They might remember the details, but they remained blissfully detached. "I require the assistance of a doctor, I am told you are the most skilled on Omega."

Dr. Solus eyed Thane, scanning him from head to toe. "Not injured. Sick?"

"Not for me, for others," Thane said. "If you would be so kind as to lower your weapon, I will gladly explain."

Dr. Solus narrowed his eyes for a moment, but eventually did as Thane asked, lowering the weapon but not putting it away. "Explain."

"It is of a sensitive nature, might I come closer?" Thane tilted his head, bringing his hands out in front of him to show the doctor he held no weapon.

Dr. Solus jerked his head once, so Thane approached, stopping when the salarian shifted, one foot sliding back as if he prepared to brace for an attack.

Dipping his head to the doctor, Thane said, "Thank you. There is a room in the mines filled with cells. There are people inside, captives taken to be sold to the collectors …." He hesitated, gauging the salarian's response to his mention of the collectors, but the salarian only blinked and nodded for him to continue. "My … target was one of those responsible for their capture. I located her tonight in the midst of a melding with an asari. I received warning of my targets … mental instability, but I now have reason to suspect some sort of contagion caused her condition. I believe she passed this on to the asari who began behaving oddly. I fear those kept prisoner might also be ill."

Dr. Solus blinked a few times, studying Thane without expression. Finally, he holstered his weapon and opened his omni-tool, scanning Thane. Thane lifted a brow ridge but didn't protest, understanding why the doctor might find it necessary, given what he just told the salarian, even though it was traditionally something a doctor would ask permission for, first.

"Detect no contagion." Dr. Solus lifted his gaze to Thane, closing his omni-tool. "Recent treatment for Kepral's Syndrome. Triheptate or heptaphine?"

"Triheptate." Thane found the doctor's question as intrusive as his scans, but he wished to move things along. "Will you help?"

"Triheptate good, best choice. Can provide additional treatments if needed while on Omega." Dr. Solus turned his back to Thane, walking toward the main door to the lab. "Wait here."

Thane sighed, moving back to the shadows of the darkened hall and waited. A few minutes later, the doctor returned, knapsack slung over his shoulder, and headed straight for Thane's location. Stepping into the hall, Dr. Solus extended his hand toward the back exit, apparently intending for Thane to take the lead.

Thane chuckled. "STG, indeed. Very well." He turned, leading the doctor through the door.

* * *

Thane took them through the mines in a taxi, having overriden the automatic controls. Lowering the skycar just outside of the door, he drew his pistol, unsurprised when the doctor did the same. Dr. Solus took up station on the opposite side of the metal frame from Thane, nodding to him as he opened his omni-tool and met the doctor's gaze, prepared to hack through the door.

The lights were still on inside, or rather had come on again. Movement from within drew Thane's attention, and he spotted two armed turians, a batarian, and an asari at the far end of the room. He pressed himself against the metal frame, watching as one of the turians shoved a human into a cell. The other turned towards the noise of the door. Whether or not they were also ill seemed irrelevant, they were slavers, and they were armed.

Thane pulled biotic energy into his fist, stepping inside long enough to throw a Warp at the turian already lowering an assault rifle. Dr. Solus ducked out, firing off two rounds at the turian writhing on the floor, body bent at unnatural angles. The asari flared with biotic energy, and Thane fired at her, shot ripping through her skull, killing her instantly, before he pressed his back against the doorframe once more. Bullets hit the wall and the doorframe behind him, filling the air between himself and the doctor with deadly projectiles.

"Impressive," Dr. Solus said, turning out from cover to fire again once the shots slowed.

The corner of Thane's mouth twitched with amusement as he pulled biotics into his palm once more. Leaning around the edge when he heard a pause in the returning gunfire, he released them in a Throw, hitting the batarian half hidden behind one of the prisoner's cells, lifting him into the air. Dr. Solus hit something on his omni-tool, and a moment later a ball of flame flew towards the batarian, catching the slaver on fire on contact. Thane saw Incinerate in action a few times before, a devastating tactic, undoubtedly useful, if garrish.

Turning out again, he fired on the second turian who stepped out of cover at the same time, opposite of where the batarian had hid. Just as his first shot hit, doing little against the turian's armor, a blast slammed into his target, freezing the turian solid a second later. Startling and certainly something Thane had yet to see before, he took full advantage. Firing at the frozen turian, his third shot completely shattered the man, sending chunks flying, skittering across the floor.

He redirected his focus to the movement of the batarian and first turian, both gravely injured but still pulling themselves off the floor, reaching for their weapons. Dr. Solus stepped over the threshold, firing off two quick shots into each man, and their bodies collapsed back to the floor. Admittedly, Thane was glad he'd not been sent to kill the salarian, although such a challenge might've proven interesting.

Thane followed him inside, stopping in front of a cell, the asari inside glaring at him with hate-filled eyes. "This is Corlina. She's the one who melded with my target." He glanced over his shoulder as the doctor came to stand next to him. "When I arrived, she appeared to be in pain and struggling to end the meld. She seemed terrified, crying. She broke free when I distracted the target and then led me here through images she saw in the target's mind. On the way here, she began acting strangely, as if listening to something I couldn't hear. She seemed distracted and confused, when I asked her what the target showed her, she said 'I … I don't know how to describe them. They were enormous, and frightening … and beautiful,'" Thane said using her exact words and mimicking her inflection. "When we arrived, she attempted to attack me, so I put her in here."

"Help me, please?" she said, turning her attention to Dr. Solus. "This man is crazy, I don't know what he's talking about!"

Dr. Solus sniffed, turning his attention to Thane. "Where is target? Dead, presumably. Still, should study subject."

"I left her in her home to come here, these people are still alive and need help," Thane said, waving at the rows of cells filled with prisoners.

"Concern for living unusual for assassin." Dr. Solus turned, heading toward the consoles at the back of the room. "Last time tortured targets, complete disregard for wellbeing. Examined corpses, methodology skilled, maximized for suffering."

"Those were … unusual cases." Thane followed the doctor, tucking his hands behind his back.

Dr. Solus glanced over Thane before he activated the console and began looking over the files. "Subtle expression of shame, words chosen with caution, undertone of grief, body language suggests habitual restraint. Targets slavers known to attack hanar colonies. Kills were personal; revenge. Slavers took someone close to you. No … too simple; too much anger in techniques chosen. Ah, slavers—"

"Doctor," Thane said, holding up a hand, voice harsher than intended. "Please, I'd rather not discuss the matter."

Dr. Solus looked up, blinking, before offering Thane a soft smile. "Of course. Sorry for your loss. Need to call in assistants, other doctors. Records indicate prisoners in acceptable health. Malnourished, injured, likely during capture, no illness. Still, should set up quarantine. For asari especially. Species of target?"

"Drell." Thane tucked his hands back behind him.

Dr. Solus turned his gaze to the files on the console again. "Drell captives to be kept separate as well. Will need to see target, examine body, scans of brain perhaps."

"Ah … that might be difficult." Thane tilted his head in apology when the doctor looked at him again.

Dr. Solus blinked. "Scans of remaining brain tissue."

* * *

Thane watched from the doorway as the doctor moved around Sahnira's cooling body. Dr. Solus scanned her completely with his omni-tool before moving on to scan and take samples of the blood and brain matter from her body and around the bed. He hummed to himself as he worked, a tune Thane was unfamiliar with.

"Will call assistant to help transport body back to clinic." Dr. Solus stood, capping the last vial of his samples before sliding the tube into a pouch at his waist.

"No, I will assist." Thane stepped forward. "There are still things here I need to see, and I prefer to not be disturbed … nor associated further with her death."

Before Dr. Solus' called in his people, Thane had set up a link between the console in 'the barn' and Theodus, asking his contact to gather what information he could about Sahnira, the collectors, and her intentions. Then, he'd moved further into the mines to watch and wait while others arrived at 'the barn' to help the doctor. He'd been concerned more hostiles might show up, those working with Sahnira, and attack the other doctors and aids, but Dr. Solus seemed to believe it wouldn't be an issue. The salarian disappeared for about a half hour, while his people worked to prepare the captives for transport, when he returned, he'd given Thane a small device and told him it'd allow him to pass through 'without triggering explosives.'

Dr. Solus sighed but didn't argue, opening his bag and pulling out a plastic wrapped square. When he opened it, the material inside responded to the air, expanding, telling Thane the object had been vacuum sealed. The doctor shook it out, and Thane recognized the shape of a bag used to move corpses.

Laying the bag out on the bed next to Sahnira, Dr. Solus glanced up at Thane. "Move lower half." He then pressed clotting sponges into the holes left in Sahnira's head, undoubtedly to contain further blood loss, making the job less of a mess.

Thane slid his hands under Sahnira's thighs, just above her knees. "You will treat her with respect?" he asked, meeting the doctor's gaze. "Her death was necessary but regrettable."

The salarian sniffed, brow ridge lowering a tick as he put his hands under Sahnira's shoulders. "Am doctor. Treat all patients with respect. Even dead patients. Ready? Lift."

Thane lifted, and together they shifted the body to the bag, tucking in her extremities before Dr. Solus sealed her away. Thane hefted the bundle into his arms, following the doctor back through the apartment and waited until Dr. Solus waved him toward the skycar, giving him the all clear. The salarian opened the door, pulling the seats up out of the way and helped Thane maneuver Sahnira inside.

Backing away from the door, Dr. Solus opened his omni-tool. "Send any data to this account. Might help further. Private details will be kept confidential."

Thane's omni-tool vibrated against his wrist, and he dipped his head at the doctor. "Thank you, Dr. Solus."

The salarian rounded the vehicle, opening the driver's side door. "Happy to help." He ducked inside, closing the door behind him.

Thane watched as the skycar lifted into the air, disappearing around a corner before he went back inside. He took his time, wandering through the apartment, taking in what little the place contained. Sahnira hadn't been back on Omega for long, and before her arrival, she stayed on Kahje—just released from prison. He assumed the woman didn't own much, and all of what she did, he saw there in the small apartment.

A desk in the corner of the living room drew his attention, and he sat down. Opening Sahnira's private laptop, it took him a minute to hack through her security. Interesting, her computer was more secure than her apartment. He dug through the files, most of it seeming entirely inconsequential, until he found a folder titled 'Enkindlers'. He opened the folder, taking his time studying the first picture within.

The image was of a species he'd never encountered, the collectors, he presumed. Bipedal, they appeared insectoid, an exoskeleton of sorts coving much of their unclothed bodies. The thick, dense ropes of red seen where the plates failed to cover looked suspiciously like bared muscle, but it couldn't be. Four, glowing eyes were situated nearly horizontally on the sides of the face. He saw no readily apparent nasal passages, though there was the impression of a nose, nor did he see a clearly defined mouth amidst the hard, chitinous plates covering the head and face. Their legs, digitigrade much like a quarian or turian, ended in two, claw like toes, but their hands showed three fingers. Apparently, they were capable of flight, as the image caught one of the collectors with wings spread, feet beginning to lift off the ground. They all carried weaponry Thane never saw before, though he easily recognized the background as Omega.

He closed the image and moved on to the next, breath catching in his throat as he easily recognized the face of Council Spectre Saren Arterius talking with a collector. The turian's mandibles were pulled in tight against his face, one hand flung out to the side, clearly irritated. The next image showed Saren looking straight at the camera, mandibles flared. In the picture after that, he moved towards whomever took the photograph—Sahnira, Thane presumed—body language promising violence.

The next file in the folder wasn't an image, but a vid. Thane started the video before propping his elbows on the desk, resting his chin on top of his clasped hands. The images came filtered through an orange glow, as if Sahnira started recording and closed the omni-tool without stopping the program first. It made it difficult for him to see much of the surroundings in detail, but he felt relatively certain she lay on a bed in a medical facility of some sorts.

A few seconds into the recording, an asari matriarch stepped into view, looking down at Sahnira with a cold smile. "Yes, you will do well." She turned her head, looking at someone off-screen. "Tell Saren I am taking this one to the amplification sphere. Once her indoctrination is complete, she will be reassigned to aid the collectors."

"Yes, mistress," a feminine voice said, presumably one of the matriarch's maiden followers.

The matriarch's gaze shifted. "You two, carry her."

An odd, computerized stuttering filled the speakers and then a moment later a figure moved into sight.

Thane leaned back, brow ridges lifting with his surprise. "Geth?" He recognized the mechanical platform of the quarian's AIs easily enough, having seen images created by quarian targets, if not the geth themselves.

The vid shifted as the geth released Sahnira from her binds, the woman's fearful whimpering and pleading filled the room. They dragged her from the medical facility and into halls made of sheets of dark metal, passing by other asari and geth along the way. Several twists and turns later, the geth carried Sahnira into a cavernous room, empty save for a giant, glowing sphere, too bright to look at for long, suspended in the air.

"I have been told this hurts worse if you fight," the matriarch said from somewhere off-screen.

The geth dropped Sahnira, and she fell in a heap, giving Thane the first real glimpse of her face. Sobbing, she seemed to cower, hiding her face in her arms as she stayed down on the floor. Through the omni-tool, Thane saw the geth and the matriarch retreat, closing the door behind them. Within moments, Sahnira's sobbing turned into shrieks, the sound digging into Thane's head. The orb began to glow brighter, filling the room with its overwhelming light, a strange, uncomfortable sound resonating through the air. Thane cringed, turning down the volume, but he needn't have bothered, a moment later the vid cut out.

* * *

He stared at the laptop's desktop, shaken enough by everything he'd seen, his battle sleep abandoned him completely. There were more images of the collectors and their victims. Images of people strapped down to the examination tables in 'the barn' eyes still very much alert and alive, filled with terror and agony, even as their insides were on display. What Sahnira hoped to find inside of those people, he had no clue, but it seemed clear she searched for something. But nothing more of Saren, the matriarch, or the geth. Nothing more of the room with the glowing orb.

Sweet Arashu, what did they do to Sahnira? How many other people had they done the same to?  _Why_  were they doing it, and  _why_  were the geth helping them? Did the Council know its favored Spectre was a part of something so atrocious? Did Saren do those things at the Council's bidding? Who else knew about this, and why wasn't it being stopped?

He needed to tell someone with authority, but who? And how would he possibly explain having come upon the information? Dr. Solus was once in the STG, surely he kept contacts within the organization. Perhaps he might have some idea of how to proceed that wouldn't risk exposing Thane, Alahana, or any of his contacts. He forwarded the contents of the 'Enkindlers' folder to Dr. Solus, attaching a note which said, " _Someone should be informed of this. I'm afraid my contacts would be of little use in this instance. Perhaps there is someone you know with the authority to take appropriate actions? I doubt it needs to be said, but my involvement in this discovery must be kept secret."_

Then, as a precaution, because there was no way he'd walk away from the contract without knowing something would be done, he called Theodus. "I'm establishing a connection to a personal laptop. There is a file on here called 'Enkindlers', I want you to make a copy of it and keep it secured for later access. Is this a problem?"

Theodus barely met Thane's gaze, his focus on something else on his screen. "Not at all, do you want me to look through the folder for anything?"

"No … not yet." Thane shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face. "What have you found from the other console?"

"Mostly just reports on various subjects and a list of reasons why they weren't acceptable to the collectors—who, you realize, she seems to think  _are_ the Enkindlers?" Theodus lifted a brow ridge, tilting his head to the side. He waited for Thane to dip his head in acknowledgment before he continued, "Apparently the collectors have very particular requirements in who they will accept. Currently, they appear most interested in acquiring two-dozen left-handed salarians, but it appears they will take other specimens who meet other equally bizarre requirements. There is nothing to suggest what they want them for, but it does seem they return to the Omega 4 Relay with their new prisoners." He trailed off, shaking his head. "So, the collectors aren't just a myth … and they might somehow be the descendants of protheans?"

"Indeed, it seems they are not myth." Thane took a deep breath. "As for being descendants of the protheans … I've seen no evidence to support this claim that I'm aware of."

"If this is true, and the hanar find out …." Theodus trailed off, brow ridges raised.

Thane rubbed at an ache forming at his temple, the sounds emanating from the sphere in the room still resonating in his head. "Indeed, I have reason to believe they may already suspect it to be true."

Theodus drummed his fingers on his desk. "I'm still sifting through the data, I'll compile a report for you as soon as I'm finished. Establish the connection to the new access point, and I'll download the folder."

"Thank you, Theodus." Thane dipped his head.

"No need to thank me, between you and Jasmine, my bills are covered for the next year." Theodus grinned at Thane before moving his hands back to his keyboard. "I'll let you know when I'm finished."

Thane cut the call before placing another. He didn't know how to tell Alahana what he discovered, but he knew she deserved answers. He bowed his head when she answered. " _Nara_ Stelak, I must speak with you in private."

"Rah'kira is here with me, I assume this is acceptable?" Alahana asked.

Thane looked up, meeting her gaze. "As you wish." He hesitated, choosing his words carefully so as not to sound calloused. "I have done as you asked, Sahnira has gone to the sea. My condolences,  _Nara_  Stelak."

The old woman let out a mournful sound, lowering her gaze. Her shoulders shook, and when she looked at Thane again, tears fell from her eyes—the first he'd ever seen from her. "Thank you, Thane. I will take peace in knowing her suffering has ended."

Rah'kira moved into view, resting a hand on Alahana's shoulder. His lips pressed into a thin line as he looked at Thane, dipping his head. Thane returned the gesture, grateful the man was there with Alahana to help ease her suffering.

"There is—I looked into some things, her activities here on Omega. I've uncovered some very disturbing images and a vid recording on her laptop which might provide you with some answers, but I fear they will bring you only heartache and more questions." Thane hesitated, lowering his gaze again. "I confess I had difficulty viewing them myself."

"Send them to me," Alahana said, squaring her shoulders when he looked up at her again.

Thane tilted his head to the side, studying his old denmother. " _Nara_  Stelak, are you certain?"

Alahana closed her eyes, taking in a shallow breath, her voice softer when she said, "Send them to me, Thane. I need to know what happened to my granddaughter."

He bowed his head to her. "Very well, as you wish."


	20. Sleep Disturbances

**Sleep Disturbances**

"The First Contact War was already over by the time I joined the Alliance, but we were still recovering from it all. Still trying to wrap our heads around the fact not only had we definitely found we aren't alone—as in living, breathing aliens and not just ancient artifacts on Mars—but there was a whole galactic civilization we never even dreamed of finding." Isaac ran a hand over his head, swiping it from back to front a couple of times. "Still reeling from the devastating blows we received from the turians, and trying to figure out where we fit into it all."

Jasmine watched him, sitting as still as her aches and pains allowed while she listened. It took him so long to start talking after he said he'd tell her what he knew, she didn't want to interrupt and risk him changing his mind.

"Hell, it's a part of what made me decide on the Alliance." He reached for the bottle of whiskey she held in her hand, so she passed it over to him. He took a drink and gave it back. "We don't hear about it much anymore, but our transition wasn't exactly smooth. There were a lot of people who wanted to wall ourselves off from aliens, didn't want to be a part of their societies, didn't want to adapt to the Council's rules and regulations. Some folks wanted to retaliate against the turians, keep the war going …."

He trailed off, dropping his gaze to the floor in front of his feet. She shifted a little, trying to ease the throb in her abdomen, but kept her gaze on him. He sighed, propping his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his hands over his face. She'd never really thought about it before, she was so little during the First Contact War and relatively safe on Earth. It didn't really affect her, didn't really touch her life beyond the fear she felt around her from adults. Isaac, though, he was … what, eighteen when the war happened? She wondered where he stood on all of it back then. If it encouraged him to join the Alliance, maybe he was one of those who didn't want to be involved with the galactic civilization, maybe someone who wanted to keep the war going …. She couldn't really see it in him, though. Maybe he just wanted to do something to help keep people safe.

After nearly a minute of silence, he started talking again. "Anyway, Cerberus popped up right after the war. Someone—the Illusive Man, I guess—released an anonymous manifesto on the extranet. It talked about the alien threat to humanity and encouraged people to build an army to guard the Charon relay, calling it a Cerberus, like the three-headed dog in Greek Mythology that guarded the gates to the underworld." He glanced at her. "You know?"

She nodded, taking a drink of her whiskey. "Yeah."

"The press picked it up, and it circulated in the news for a little while, but it was eventually brushed off and forgotten." He waved his hand for her bottle, so she passed it to him. The conversation must be really putting a strain on him, he normally wasn't much of a drinker. "But then, a few years later is when the attack on the  _SSV Geneva_  you found out about happened, and the man they were able to arrest claimed Cerberus was responsible. After that, they started cropping up in the news more and more for all kinds of crazy shit."

"Like what?" she asked when he passed the bottle back to her.

"Abductions, assassinations, sabotaging eezo ships and making them crash on colonized planets, maybe even Earth." He tilted his head to the side, lifting his shoulder up to meet it in a half-assed shrug. "We'd only just learned about the connection between eezo exposure and biotics after some accidental exposures, pregnant women started giving birth to biotic babies … but you also got some people like me."

She furrowed her brow, trying to make sense out of the statement but coming up empty-handed. "What do you mean?"

"People who weren't born biotic, but developed it later after a secondary exposure. My parents lived on Mars when my mom became pregnant with me." He stood and started pacing, the movements slow and relaxed, not agitated the way he'd been when she first told him about her research. "They didn't know it at the time, but there were caches of eezo on Mars. Doctors think there must've been enough residual eezo on the surface to pass through the placenta and enter my nervous system, but not enough to bring about biotics." He waved his hand. "They moved back to Earth in her second trimester. I didn't develop biotic abilities until after an eezo ship crashed in Singapore—family vacation—when I was twelve. Though, we're pretty sure that one was a genuine accident."

_Singapore on family vacation. I kinda want to hate him._

He stopped pacing and leaned against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other and shoving his hands into his pockets. "Anyway, we weren't far from where it went down, and that night I started running a really high fever. Scared my mom and dad to death damn near, they took me to the hospital, and it was there my biotics first manifested. I was terrified, with all the doctors poking and prodding me. My fever was so high, I was delirious. I lashed out … threw a doctor across the room."

"Damn," she said, arching her eyebrows. She could only imagine what it must've been like for him, hell, he probably thought he was dying. Thinking of Isaac as a scared little boy made her want to get up and go give him a hug, but he'd probably just laugh. It was long ago, something he'd undoubtedly more than dealt with.

"Yeah. So, I ended up spending the rest of my childhood struggling to get them under control." He shrugged, as if it were really no big deal, and it made her wonder if he'd done so in response to something he saw in her eyes. "They developed a training program for the kids who were born biotic, but by then, I was already in the Phantoms. I got implanted with an amp, though, as soon as they passed regulations." Shaking his head, he huffed. "I got real lucky, the implants turned out to cause a lot of problems in other people. I've heard stories about them making people insane, burning out their brains … all kinds of things."

Her eyes widened, fear tugging at the corners of her mind even as some distant part of her questioned when exactly she came to care so much about the man that the thought of him being hurt scared the shit out of her. "Jesus Christ, can that still happen to you?"

"Nah," he said, turning down the corners of his lips and shaking his head, "I upgraded to the L3, which was a risk in and of itself, but … my family could afford the best doctors."

"Right." She heard the sour note in her own voice, but if he caught it, he didn't react.

"So, anyway, Cerberus intentionally created more human biotics. Thing is, not everyone exposed in utero became biotic." His brow furrowed, anger filling his eyes. "For some people, nothing happened at all but others got real sick. There were a lot of stillborns, other kids were born with tumors or other disfigurements."

The muscles along Jasmine's shoulders tensed, making her injuries protest with a sharp pang. She'd heard about some of the terrible things he talked about, but she never thought for even a second those crashes might've been deliberate, pregnant women exposed on purpose. She took another drink of whiskey, making the mental effort to relax her tight muscles before her shoulder really started to ache.

"They didn't stop there." Isaac watched her, pursing his lips. "You already know about Cerberus abducting asari to experiment on them with biotic suppressants, but I met someone, a man named Aresh—bat shit crazy—but he said Cerberus held him in a facility as a kid." He pushed off the wall, moving back to his chair and held his hand out for the bottle of alcohol. "I couldn't make much sense of what he said, and I was on a job, so I couldn't really dig into it too deep, but he made it sound like they had a lot of kids there they were running experiments on … torturing, trying to enhance their biotics." Tilting his head back, he took a heavy swallow. "He talked about a girl he called Subject Zero. He said everything they did to him and the others was to test it out before giving it to this one girl." He took another drink before handing it back. "Something happened one day and she got free, killing damn near everyone in the place with her biotics—including the other kids—while escaping."

If it was true, if any of it was true, and the Alliance allowed such crazy shit to happen, especially the stuff about the kids … Jasmine understood perfectly well why Leon expected her to let go of her loyalty to the Alliance. Still, she didn't feel so sure the Alliance would be involved with torturing kids. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. Even the intentional exposure, after knowing the potential side effects, didn't really seem like something the Alliance would support. But it did carry a certain, disquieting ring of truth.

She licked her lips, stamping down her building rage. "Do you believe him? It sounds like something Cerberus would do from everything else I've heard …."

He took a deep breath and ran his hand over his head again. "Yeah … yeah, I do," he said, his words starting to sound a little slurred.

She pursed her lips and sucked on her teeth. "It's hard to see the Alliance supporting experiments on kids …."

" _If_ the Alliance does have some ties to Cerberus," he said, meeting her gaze again, "it doesn't necessarily mean they're involved with this in specific."

"So … how do we figure out the truth?" She held his gaze, pinning him in place with sheer will. No way in hell was he going to tell her all of that and then walk away from it. No way in hell she'd ever let it go. "You're running the show now, what's the plan?"

* * *

Jasmine sat at her workstation at Raúl's. He'd given her a port scanning program, a list of EP addresses, and a series of commands to run before leaving her to it. She felt pretty sure at least half the shit he made her type in manually didn't need to be, but she was done with complaining. And asking him what the fuck things like 'nmap', '-h', and '-v' meant—network mapper, help, and verbose—especially when all he'd do is toss another manual on her desk and tell her to look it up herself. Her mind wandered to the conversation she had with Isaac the night before, making her mess up and have to ask Raúl to help her fix it more than once. The last time he stuck around, lingering by her desk, looking over her shoulder like some weirdo creep.

She ignored him, continuing her work, moving from port to port manually and recording the scan results. When one packet returned as filtered, she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before picking up the manual to search for the meaning. It didn't take her long to figure out a filtered message meant packet filtering kept the probe from even reaching the port destination. Curious, she kept reading, trying to figure out what might cause filtering, but it mostly just lead her back to the info on firewalls she'd only skimmed last time to get the gist of what she needed to satisfy Raúl.

He shifted, leaning against her desk, reminding her he was there. Smirking, he crossed his arms over his chest when she glanced up. "What did you learn?"

"Shut up," she grumbled, setting the datapad down and recorded the scan results. She sighed when he laughed, moving away from her desk again.

She dove back into her work, scanning each port on the list. The hours ticked by in relative silence, the monotony of her task making each second drag. She nearly whimpered with joy when the door slid open and Isaac walked inside. She glanced at the time, just to make sure he didn't show up early, before flashing a grateful smile at the man. Taking a look at her list, she pouted to see she'd only made it maybe a third of the way through, which meant Raúl would expect her to start back on it in the morning.

"Hey, Sunshine, you ready to go?" Isaac perched on the side of her desk, hands resting on his thighs.

"Yeah, just give me a second to close this down." She halted the program and saved her recordings before locking the system as per 'Raúl's Rules'—seriously, he'd posted them next to her desk as if she were a five-year-old. Pushing her chair back, she took a breath to work up the courage to stand after so long sitting, and hoisted herself up. She glanced down at the datapad containing the manual she'd been reading before picking it up and looking at Raúl. "Hey dickhead," she said, grinning when he actually turned her way in response, "I'm taking this with me." She thought she saw him stamp down a pleased smile, and she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Isaac chuckled, pushing off the desk to help her get her coat on. "Raúl, come have dinner with us. We need to talk."

Jasmine groaned, not even caring if she sounded like a petulant five-year-old. "Aw, come on, I've been stuck with him all day."

Raúl lifted an eyebrow but gave Isaac a curt nod. He ran his hands over his keyboard before pushing away from the desk. Without a word, he left the workspace of the prefab and made his way back into his living area. A moment later he came back out with his coat on and nodded towards the front door.

* * *

When Isaac first told Raúl that they needed to talk, the gears in Jasmine's head started turning. He'd told her he planned on taking charge of the Cerberus slash Alliance love affair investigation, but surely he didn't mean to bring Raúl in on it.

Yes, yes he did.

She listened with growing horror, her lips pressed into a tight, thin line, as Isaac laid out for Raúl exactly what he wanted the operative to look for and where. To Raúl's credit, he didn't flinch away from the idea of hacking into the Alliance's systems, nor Cerberus'. He didn't ask extraneous questions, didn't mutter a single 'why'. He took everything Isaac told him—which really wasn't all too much, at least—with complete aplomb. It made Jasmine wonder about the man's loyalty, where exactly it laid, because clearly it wasn't with the Alliance. Or, at least, not enough to make him question his orders as she thought it should.

She felt grateful Isaac chose to keep her part in the whole mess private, at least for the time being. She didn't trust Raúl. Not just because she didn't like him personally, but because she didn't really know him all that well. Isaac apparently did, though, so she'd have to just put her trust in him. Raúl glanced at her, and she saw the curiosity and doubt in his eyes. He probably wondered the same things about her as she did him.

"You'll share whatever you find with Jasmine and myself, no one else." Isaac scraped his fork over his plate, gathering up the last of his rice.

"With Jasmine?" Raúl raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a problem?" Isaac glanced up as he raised his fork to his mouth.

"Of course not." Raúl turned his attention back to his plate, but it was clear he didn't like the idea of having to report  _anything_  to Jasmine.

It brought a smile to her face.

Isaac snorted. "You two really should give each other a chance, you've got more in common than you might think."

"I find that highly unlikely." Raúl glanced at her again before turning his attention back to Isaac. "She's a whining child."

"She's whining because she's been shot and can't take any pain pills." Isaac looked up, holding Raúl's gaze. "You know what being shot feels like, but you had pain relief. She doesn't."

Raúl snorted, lifting a forkful of salad to his mouth. "So get her something, maybe then I'll be able to tolerate the sound of her voice."

Isaac shook his head. "She doesn't want them, she's got her reasons."

Raúl turned his gaze back to her, turning his bite of food over slowly in his mouth, understanding dawning in his eyes in the most infuriating way. "How'd you get shot?" At least he kept it to himself.

Jasmine glanced to Isaac for guidance. She wasn't used to spending time around other Phantoms who weren't her superiors, she didn't know what she should or shouldn't tell the man. Isaac jerked his head in a nod.

Pursing her lips, she turned her attention back to Raúl. "I was following a member of Blackwatch, he ambushed me on a roof. Hit me with a Reave and then shot me."

Raúl's eyebrow twitched as he watched her, seeming to mull over the information. "Assault rifle?" He waved his fork at her shoulder and then lower down, indicating her abdomen hidden behind the table. "You favor both locations, shot twice, pretty well aligned. Not lethal, though. His aim was off, or you moved in time."

"Yeah," she said, sticking her fork into her porkchop and cutting off a piece. "Kinda hard not to move when it feels like your insides are being ripped apart."

He grunted, turning his attention back to his plate, and that ended the conversation.

After dinner, Raúl helped Isaac clear the table and do the dishes. She heard the two of them talking quietly at the kitchen sink, but she couldn't make out anything they were saying. Which was fine, it was probably something she was better off not hearing anyway. She clenched her teeth to stifle her groan and pushed herself up from the table before making her way to the couch and picking up the manual she brought back with her from Raúl's.

* * *

The next morning she found a datapad, a glass of water, and a bottle of pills sitting on her desk when she got to Raúl's. She narrowed her gaze, anger waring with the sudden spike of craving as she looked down at the bottle. She glanced over her shoulder, but Raúl wasn't around. If putting narcotic pain pills on her desk after last night's conversations was his idea of a joke, she'd kick his ass, even if it tore open her wounds in the process. Picking up the bottle, fingers already trembling with her wavering self-restraint, she sucked in a slow, deep breath and turned it over in her palm to see the label.

_What the fuck is halgraven?_

She raised an eyebrow, setting the bottle back down and picking up the datapad, ignoring the momentary flood of disappointment. With the press of a button, the screen started to glow, showing her a medication specs sheet on halgraven. Pulling out the chair, she eased herself down and started reading. Apparently it was a non-narcotic pain medication produced from plant compounds discovered on Ferris Fields. It claimed to be as potent as hexaline but non-habit forming and with none of the wonderful, mind-haze inducing side effects. Potential side effects included stomach upset, sleep disturbances, arrhythmia, and allergic reaction.

_Fantastic._

Raúl walked into the room, and she turned her chair, watching him until he met her gaze. Once she'd captured his attention, she held up the bottle and arched an eyebrow in question. He didn't say anything, just moved on to his desk, pulling out his chair and sitting down before logging on to his computer. She turned back around, scrolling down to the bottom of the specs sheet to look at the dosage chart. Pursing her lips, she opened the bottle and tore off the hermetic seal. Might as well give them a try. She shook one of the pale, blue pills out in her hand and popped it in her mouth, washing it down with the water.

"Thanks," she said, unlocking her console.

"If it saves my ears from your whining, it's no problem," he said, and then, before she could retort, he added, "I'm almost in the Alliance's systems. I should have something for you in a few hours."

She turned her chair again to look at him, lips parted for a few seconds before she actually spoke. "You're really okay with this?"

He glanced up. "With what?"

"What Isaac's having you do? Breaking into the Alliance's systems, spying on the people who sign your paychecks."

Raúl leaned back in his chair, propping an elbow on the armrest and held his chin on the palm of his hand, index finger tapping against the side of his face. "I don't know the people who sign my paychecks. I know Isaac, and I owe  _him_  everything. I'm here because  _he_  took me in, encouraged me to join the Phantoms. If he says there's a reason to suspect a connection between the Alliance and Cerberus, and he wants me to help him find it, why would I say no?"

Surprised by his words, curiosity got the best of her and she asked, "Why do you owe him everything?"

"What were you addicted to?" He arched his eyebrows at her when she furrowed hers and lifted her lip in a sneer. "What, you're done with the personally invasive questions already?"

She sucked her teeth, turning her chair to face him fully and crossed her arms over her chest. Fine. She could play that game. "Red sand, mostly."

His lip twitched, contempt flashing over his eyes. "I got caught hacking into the UNAS federal reserves when my partner screwed up. He ran, left me to take the rap. I was looking at a long list of charges that would've seen me die in prison. Isaac stepped in, suggested to the Alliance that my skills made me a valuable asset. He worked with me personally …" He swiveled his chair back and forth. "... got me clean."

"Clean?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Stims," he said, voice just as dry as always.

She snorted, shaking her head. "And yet you want to judge me for having been an addict?"

"A  _red sand_  addict." He waved his hand dismissively. "My addiction was accidental, I had a legitimate use for the stims, but it got out of hand. I wasn't chasing a high or pretending to be a biotic, I was trying to stay awake to stay alive."

She rolled her eyes at his self-righteous attitude. "Neither was I, not at first. I was an orphaned kid doing whatever I could to stay alive on the streets and keep myself from spiraling into a suicidal depression." She watched him for a moment, soaking in the regret in his eyes even if he didn't give voice to it. "How did staying awake keeping you alive?"

"I was on the run from bounty hunters hired to bring me in dead, I was suspected of murdering someone  _influential_. And before you ask, yes, I did kill them, yes, I had a good reason, and no, I won't tell you about it." He took a slow breath before asking, "How'd you end up in the Phantoms?"

"I got clean and told an Alliance recruiter I know that I wanted to enlist. The Phantoms scouted me in basic, I liked what they offered." She cocked an eyebrow. "Why were you hacking into the UNAS federal reserves?"

He scoffed. "It's the federal reserves, does it really need more explanation? Did Isaac train you?"

"No, he's only been my handler for the last couple of months." She shifted in her seat, surprised to find the medication he'd left for her already starting to help. "What were you planning to do with the money, smartass? Pay off the bounty hunters?"

"With some of it, yeah. Otherwise … just live and  _not_  be poor." He shrugged. "Why'd they give you a new handler?"

"I shot the last one." She smirked, throwing his words back at him as she said, "And before you ask, yes, I did kill them, yes, I had a good reason, and no, I won't tell you about it." She picked up the water and took a swallow, watching him over the top of her glass before asking, "What happened to the bounty hunters?"

"Isaac made the problem go away. I don't know the details. I don't  _want_ to know the details." He brought his ankle up to rest over the opposite knee. "Does Isaac know you killed your last handler?"

"Of course." She lifted her uninjured shoulder in a shrug. "Why'd you decide you didn't like me the second you laid eyes on me?"

Raúl turned back to his console. "I'm in their system, better get to work. Don't you have ports to finish scanning?"

* * *

Isaac pulled a chair in from the other room, turning it backwards to straddle it, draping his arms over the back. Jasmine sat next to him, still stunned and trying to piece it all together as Raúl repeated to Isaac everything he'd already told her. He'd found files on an outsourced experiment called 'Project Evolution' being funded by the Alliance, there was no description of  _what exactly_  the project was, but the files spoke of several 'failed trials' and the approval for a new trial to begin 'pending T.I.M.'s agreement to contractual terms'. The files spoke about the families of the participants of the 'failed trials' having been notified of their loved one's 'death in the line of duty'. It wasn't conclusively linked to Cerberus, but with experiments leaving behind a body count, it sure sounded like Cerberus. Not to mention, 'T.I.M.' could easily stand for 'the Illusive Man'. And … it sounded like the Alliance sent in their own soldiers as test subjects.

"Damn," Isaac said, scrubbing his hands over his face. "Alright, keep looking. See if you can find anything else on this project, and cross reference it with whatever you find from Cerberus." He pushed himself up from the chair. "But that doesn't mean stay up all night working, either."

Raúl nodded, turning his attention back to his console, effectively dismissing Isaac and Jasmine from his notice.

"Come on, Sunshine," Isaac said, turning to her. "How about we get the Medi-gel off you?"

She blinked, taking a minute for her mind to switch gears. "Yeah." She pushed herself up, a slight groan escaping her lips as the motion tugged at her injuries. The second dose of halgraven already started wearing off; she grabbed the bottle from the desk and stuck it in her pocket.

"What's that?" Isaac held her coat out for her, helping her work her injured arm in through the sleeve.

"Something Raúl gave me. Halgraven?" She slid her other arm in.

"You actually using his name now? That's good." He tilted his head, eyeing her. "Haven't heard of halgraven. You okay with it?"

She snorted, handing him the datapad with the med specs."You are  _so_  the dad."

* * *

_Eyes watched her from the shadows, she felt them on her, like ants crawling over her skin. Biting, burrowing, digging around inside of her. Voices whispered out of the darkness like ghosts haunting her, judging her, blaming her. Their deaths were her fault, their blood on her hands. She ran, desperate to get away, but they just followed her, always right there beside her, calling out her name._

_Fingers reached out, scrambling to find purchase on her, like demon's claws, tangling in her hair and gouging at her skin. She screamed, jerking away only to be caught by another snare, a hand wrapping around her throat. She fought, lashing out at her attackers, but her fists found nothing but empty air. Another hand shot out of the nothingness, this one easily recognizable as a turian's, and their talon dug straight into the flesh of her shoulder, another piercing her side, and she screamed again. She tore herself free, blood flowing from her wounds in thick streams, but she ran._

_Children whimpered, begging for her help, but she couldn't see them, and she couldn't risk stopping to search for them. Something was after her, and she knew if she stopped, it'd kill her._

" _You sure you can trust him, love?" Leon's voice echoed through the darkness. "What if he's in on it? What if he's with Cerberus? Can you really trust anyone?" He stepped out of thin air, standing a few meters ahead of her, bullet holes dripping black blood at a sluggish pace, thick, rotten looking._

_She stumbled to a stop, nearly crashing down to the ground as she pinwheeled, pulling herself upright. "Leon …." Her heart slammed against her ribs, fear, anger, and grief tearing at her insides._

" _They're going to come looking for you, you know? They're going to kill you just like they did my dad." Leon shook his head, making droplets of blood fall from the wound in his head, plopping down onto his shirt in clotted globs. "You should've let it go. You didn't give a shit what I had to say before you killed me, why would something I said matter so much after I'm dead?"_

_Thane stepped out of the shadows, a wide smile on his face. "Siha." He started walking toward her, but Leon lifted a gun, aiming it right at the back of Thane's head._

" _No!" She lunged forward, but it was like her feet were stuck in thick mud, each step taking all of her energy, costing her precious seconds._

_Leon pulled the trigger, and Thane disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing behind her dead handler, reaching out and snapping his neck. She barely had the chance to breathe a sigh of relief before dozens of human hands reached out, grabbing Thane and dragging him into the darkness. She screamed, collapsing to her knees only to keep falling, the abyss opening up to swallow her whole._


	21. Confrontation

**Confrontation**

It took him two days to track his siha, he'd known she'd left the Citadel, but not where her handler took her. They'd had very little opportunity to speak between his contract and her near constant supervision. He knew Isaac stayed in the same prefab as her—which helped him to narrow his search down to colonies—and she studied with another operative nextdoor during the day—which encouraged him to focus on human colonies. She didn't tell Thane the other man's name, only complained about 'the asshole' making her do menial work and talking down to her. It would've offended him for her sake if he couldn't tell she was actually learning new skills, and she admitted to being callous towards the operative herself.

He remained uncertain about how they'd manage to find time together on Ferris Fields. His presence in the human colony wouldn't go unnoticed or unremarked for long. He stood beneath a tree, watching the building in the soft glow of moonlight, finding it painful to know she was so close, yet unable to go to her. Out of curiosity, he'd scouted around the prefab and checked the level of encryption on the locks, unsurprised to find it far surpassed anything Jasmine used on her own. Still, it wouldn't take him long to hack through it and be inside should the need arise.

He considered sending her a message to let her know he'd arrived on Ferris Fields, but with her handler being a 'mother-hen' as she described him, it was unlikely she'd be able to come to him. Besides, with her injuries, she needed her rest. He'd wait until daylight, until he had the chance to better plan where he would stay and how to see her without drawing her handler's attention.

A muffled scream broke the silence of the night, and Thane took a step forward, adrenaline dumping into his system as he recognized the sound of her voice. Another scream, and he bolted for the door, opening his omni-tool as he went. He didn't wait for the lock to fully decrypt, forcing his way through as soon as the mechanical locking mechanism disengaged, it'd alert whomever encrypted the lock, but at the moment, it seemed irrelevant.

He stepped over the threshold, pistol raised. Something slammed into his wrist, knocking his weapon from his hand. Pulling his biotics into his palms, he spun, lashing out at the threat with a Warp only to have the dark energy deflected with raw biotics. The darkness provided Thane with little more than the silhouette of a tall, human man and his heat signature—more than enough for Thane to launch an attack. Fingers folding into a fist, he struck out, but the man stepped out of the way and countered, throwing a blow with his left hand only to follow it up with a low strike with his right.

Thane danced out of reach, circling the human as he pulled more biotic energy into his fists. The man did the same, his own biotics swirling around him, casting shadows on his face. He moved with Thane, trading blows, each deflecting the other's with increasing difficulty. The man moved with a precision Thane rarely saw in anyone, even those raised as assassins in the Compact. Bringing his arm down, he knocked aside a kick aimed for his thigh and lashed out with a palm strike to the man's chest, only to have the human turn out of the way, slapping Thane's hand aside as he moved.

A frightened scream tore through the air, the sheer terror in Jasmine's voice drawing both Thane's and his assailant's attention. He needed to get in there to her. The man recovered from the distraction faster than Thane, striking out again. Thane twisted out of the way and dropped low, sweeping out at the man's legs, forcing him to jump back and give Thane a little space. The wash of moonlight filtering through the curtains, disturbed by the man's movements, showed Thane where his pistol landed. He rolled across the floor, scooping up his gun as he moved back to his feet. The sound of another gun whirring to life filled the air as Thane turned, leveled his weapon on the silhouette, and pulled the trigger. The man already started moving, though, biotics flaring to life and creating a bright streak as he dove out of the way, throwing the dark energy at Thane.

He barely had enough time to fling out a ball of raw, unshaped energy to deflect the biotic attack, sending it off course. The biotics diverted less than a meter before bursting into the spinning, gravitic well of a Singularity. The tug of the Singularity pulled at him, but it wasn't close enough to drag him in. He turned to face the man, backing away to put some distance between himself and the dark energy hanging in the middle of the room. The man's gun-arm lifted, and Thane rolled out of the way, a bullet ripping into the metal of the prefab's wall centimeters away.

When he got back to his feet, the human rushed him, and Thane moved into the assault. He brought his arm up, using it to push away the man's fist aimed at his face. Bringing his other arm around, he shoved the muzzle of his pistol against the man's abdomen only to feel the cool metal of a gun under his own chin. A light turned on in the room, flooding the area with a sudden brightness.

Thane blinked against the harsh glare, his opponent's face coming into view for the first time. He gasped, memories crashing against the walls of his mind. "Winter?"

"Krios?" Winter said, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Shit," Jasmine's voice filled the stretch of silence.

* * *

Neither of them so much as twitched their gazes in her direction. Her heart slammed against her chest, she felt frozen in place for insanely long seconds before adrenaline got her moving forward, the ache in her stomach and shoulder be damned. She sat her gun down on an end table as she passed by. "Isaac, wait." She reached the men, still locked together like two bulls by the horns. "Isaac!" She said again, voice taking on a panicked bite as she put a hand on his arm. "Please."

"Isaac?" Thane's gaze flicked to her before moving back to the man holding a gun under his chin. "This is your handler?"

"You  _know_ him?" The incredulity, the accusation in Isaac's voice made her cringe.

The front door slid open, and Raúl peered around the edge of the doorframe before leveling a pistol at Thane.

_Fuck's sake._

"Raúl, no!" Jasmine held her hand up and out towards the other Phantom, praying he wouldn't do anything rash.

His gaze flicked back and forth between the three of them, assessing the situation before landing on Isaac. "Orders?" he asked, voice calm, as if he walked into an armed standoff between his handler and a strange drell every night of the week. At least he didn't have an itchy trigger finger.

Isaac didn't look away from Thane, but neither did he answer the man. " _Jasmine_! Do you know this drell?" he asked, enunciating each word with strained emphasis.

"Yes," she said, tugging on his arm a little. "Isaac, please. He's not here to hurt anyone, I swear."

"You were screaming." Isaac furrowed his brow, still not looking at her. "Who else is here?"

Raúl moved in her peripherals, stepping fully inside, gun still raised as he edged around the room. Her head jerked towards him, and she gave him a warning look, suddenly wishing she hadn't been so quick to put her own gun down. She shifted, using her body as a shield between Raúl and Thane, not that she thought Raúl would hesitate to shoot right through her if Isaac gave him the order.

"It was just a nightmare, no one else is here." She tugged at Isaac, starting to feel desperate enough to go get her pistol. Even though she knew it'd kill her—maybe literally—to point her gun at Isaac, for Thane …. "I didn't even know he was here."

Raúl kept moving until he had a line of sight into Jasmine's room. He peered around the edge of her door frame before ducking inside, coming back out a couple of seconds later. "Her room's clear."

"Please, just …." She turned her gaze to Thane, her voice pleading when she said, "Please, all of you, just put your guns away."

Thane took a shallow breath before slowly lowering his weapon, though he didn't holster the gun. Isaac's jaw twitched twice, but he took a step back, dropping his arm until his pistol pointed at the floor. She let out a heavy breath, hair fluttering around her face.

Isaac took another couple of steps back, glancing at her for the first time. "There better be a damn good explanation as to why  _this man_ , of all people, is coming in here in the middle of the night."

She'd heard them say each other's names when she turned on the light, but it really didn't register until just then it meant they knew one another. The implications were daunting. She glanced at Raúl to see he'd lowered his weapon as well, and she let out another heavy breath.

"I heard her screams, as well," Thane said, turning his attention to Jasmine. "I thought you were in danger, siha. My apologies, I didn't intend to cause you trouble."

" _Siha_? How the hell do you two know each other? And why should I believe you haven't taken a contract on her?" Isaac sounded seriously irritated, making Jasmine avoid looking at him. "Or me for that matter?"

Thane's brow ridges pulled in and down, clearly affronted. "I would never take a contract on her, and I didn't know  _you_  were Isaac."

Isaac scoffed. "I'm supposed to just believe you?"

"Oh for Christ's sake." She huffed and moved between the two men, turning to face Thane.

He looked down at her, meeting her gaze, eyes softening. She reached up with her left arm, wrapping her hand around the back of his head and tugged him down to her. He offered no resistance, and she pressed her lips to his as his arm slid around her waist to pull her against him. She didn't get the chance to really savor the feel of the man she loved in her arms, or taste his tongue on hers, before Isaac let out a scathing bark of laughter.

"You've  _got_ to be kidding me," Isaac said.

Jasmine broke the kiss but stayed there, looking into Thane's dark eyes, brushing her thumb over the frills of his cheek. When she spoke, she directed her words to Isaac, "Put your gun away, Bossman. This man loves me and would put my life before his." She turned, keeping herself between Isaac and Thane, to meet Isaac's gaze, putting a little steel in her spine and voice. "And I'd do the same for him without second thought."

Raúl let out a low whistle.

Isaac's jaw twitched again, stare pinning her in place, making her hold her breath. After a few seconds he lowered his gaze and shook his head, holstering his weapon. "Stand down, Raúl."

"Thank you." She watched Raúl put his pistol away before she glanced over her shoulder. "Thane?"

"As you wish, siha." He slid his gun away under his jacket before moving his hand to the small of her back.

Isaac moved to the chair and sat down, rubbing a hand over his face before brushing it across the top of his head. He looked back up at her. "How long has this been going on?"

Raúl moved to stand behind Isaac, leaning against the partitioning wall. His stance seemed relaxed enough, but Jasmine knew he stayed alert, still watching Thane's every move.

She reached behind her, taking Thane's hand in hers and led him to the couch, stopping to pick up her pistol on the way. Sitting down, she tugged at him to urge him to sit with her. "I met him a little over a year ago on the Citadel, we were both going after the same target. We started talking after that, and a few months later, it turned into something more." Her gaze flicked to Raúl before moving back to Isaac. "It's his contact who helped me look into Cerberus."

Isaac shook his head again, propping his elbow on his knee and pressed his forehead into his palm. Thane shifted a little beside her, and she glanced at him, surprise painted across his face as he lifted a brow ridge at her—probably because she just inadvertently told him she'd confessed her extracurricular activities to her handler. She shrugged her good shoulder and turned her attention back to Isaac.

"You didn't mention him when you told me about the Cerberus thing," Isaac said, gaze still lowered.

"I  _love_  him, Isaac." She knew he'd understand the weight of her declaration.

"You told him my name?" He looked up at her, hurt clear in his eyes. "As soon as you said my name, he knew I'm your handler."

She fought back the urge to wince but lowered her gaze, she couldn't stand seeing the look of betrayal in his eyes. "I'm sorry. It didn't even occur to me …. I trust him, completely. I didn't mean to disrespect you in any way, I just shared a piece of my life with the man I love."

"Perhaps I should leave, Jasmine?" Thane asked, voice low, intended only for her even though it was loud enough for Isaac to hear.

Isaac looked up, his gaze moving straight to Thane. "No. I don't think so. Not until I understand exactly what the hell is going on here, Krios."

"Krios? As in  _the_ Krios?" Raúl tensed, standing up a little straighter.

"Yeah, that's him." Isaac leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Jasmine furrowed her brow, looking back and forth between Isaac and Raúl before turning her gaze to Thane, who pressed his lips into a tight line and lowered his gaze. She swallowed and looked back at Isaac. "How … how do you know him?"

Isaac scoffed, bringing a hand up to touch one of the bullet wound scars on his bare chest. "He killed one of my best contacts, and then he shot me."

* * *

Thane bit the tip of his tongue, fighting back the instinct to give voice to the events of a night ten years before as the memory forced its way forward once more.

_I watch the asari through my scope from the rooftop. Scents of Thessian night-blooming flowers fill the air as the breeze shifts. I adjust, taking the strength of the wind into account and reach for the laser sight. A man walks up. Human, tall, dark skin. Leans against the railing next to T'Varan. I pause, waiting for him to look away before turning on the laser sight._

_Red paints a target on blue. I pull the trigger. T'Varan falls._

_I start to move but stop, the human's actions catching me by surprise. He doesn't flee, doesn't look around with confusion, doesn't bend down to lend T'Varan aid. Instead, he draws a weapon, his gaze turning up to search the rooftops. I pull back into the shadows before he can locate me, collapsing my sniper rifle._

Thane lifted a hand to his mouth, coughing gently into his fist, forcing the memory away. "I … accepted a contract on an asari. She stole information from the hanar—names and locations of agents of the Compact and sold them to the Shadow Broker. Winter showed up just before I took my shot. He intercepted me as I left my staging grounds … we fought, and I eventually knocked him unconscious."

It'd been an unusual contract. The hanar sent other assassins, those still in the Compact after T'Varan, but they'd been unable to track her down. It surprised Thane when they reached out to him, but with what was at stake, he couldn't deny the contract. By then he'd already established himself in the freelance business and created a network of contacts throughout the galaxy, including a salarian named Harbow Raelota who was exceptionally good at finding people in hiding. Regrettably, Harbow was old and went to the sea two years later.

"I started tracking him the second I woke up," Winter said, picking up the story, "and caught up with him not far from the docks." Although his words seemed directed at Jasmine, the man's dark gaze barely left Thane for more than a fraction of a second. "But then he disappeared, just walked into a shadow and never walked out again. A minute later he drops down from nowhere and shoots me. Doesn't say anything, just shoots me and walks away again, leaving me to die."

"It—I only intended to wound you, slow you down and throw you off my trail." Thane waved his hand, dismayed to learn his intentions that night weren't obvious. "I had no reason to kill you, it wasn't a lethal shot, but I couldn't allow you to continue to pursue me."

Silence fell as they continued to watch one another. After a moment, Winter narrowed his gaze. "You're Saman Naol," he said, not as a question but as if he simply needed to give voice to his conclusion.

Jasmine scraped her teeth over her lip and nodded to her handler when Thane glanced at her. She swallowed, defiance flashing in her eyes despite her dilated pupils—his venom must be affecting her. "But it doesn't change anything about Leon's actions or his death."

Thane reached for his pocket to retrieve the small bottle of supplements he'd started keeping with him whenever he intended to be around Jasmine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the movement drew her handler's attention back to Thane, and Winter flared with biotics, the man behind him starting to draw his weapon once more. Jasmine's fingers wrapped around the pistol in her lap, and she started to raise her gun towards Raúl.

Hand darting out, Thane pushed her wrist back down. "Don't, siha," hee said, his voice gentle, hoping to ease the tension he saw coiled inside of her, and she hesitated, turning her gaze to him. He stroked his thumb across the back of her other hand, still clinging to his, and offered her a soft smile. Turning his attention back to Winter, he said, "My apologies, I'm only getting something for Jasmine. Something to counteract the effects of my venom. She doesn't … respond well otherwise, particularly when her emotions are heightened."

"I'm alright," she said. "At least I will be if everyone stops acting all jumpy."

The man's brow twitched, his gaze turning back to Jasmine, eyes widening. "Shit," he whispered, biotics dying down. He pushed himself to his feet and moved to squat down in front of her. "Look at me, Sunshine." He frowned when she turned her gaze to him, concern pulling his features into tight lines. "Christ …." He looked at Thane again. "What do you have?"

_Sunshine? That's … interesting._

Jasmine snorted, rolling her eyes which seemed to make her sway a little. "It's not that bad,  _Dad_. I know what to expect with it now. It doesn't hit me the same way other stuff does." She smiled at Winter, and Thane saw the affection in her gaze. "It's not going to make me relapse, alright?"

Thane produced the bottle of supplements and handed it to Winter, pushing aside the revelation of the depth of Jasmine and her handler's … bond for later consideration. Winter took one look at the label and nodded, popping it open and digging past the protective cushion to pull out two of the pills. He closed the bottle again and gave it back to Thane.

"Humor me," Winter said, easing her pistol out of her grip. He sat the gun down on the table before taking her hand in his, pressed the pills into her palm, and glanced over his shoulder. "Raúl, get her a glass of water, please."

The man didn't say anything, only let his weapon drop back into his holster and left the room.

"Sure." Jasmine turned the pills over in her hand. "I keep a bottle of them in my bedside table, too, if it makes you feel better."

"It does." Winter pushed to his feet, turning to take the glass of water from Raúl when he returned. "Do you need another dose of halgraven?"

She brought her hand to her mouth, scraping the pills off her palm with her teeth and nodding before washing them down with water. Winter cast a weighted glance at Raúl before moving around the couch towards Jasmine's room. Raúl settled back in against the wall, watching Thane, his face expressionless. Winter returned a moment later and handed Jasmine another bottle before sitting back down in the chair.

Thane broke the silence. "I have no quarrel with you." He glanced from Winter to Raúl and back again. "With either of you. I have no contract here, and neither will I ever speak of your presence here to anyone else. You have my word. I only wish to be with Jasmine."

* * *

Jasmine watched Isaac, the halo glow surrounding him a little disorienting. Despite the venom playing tricks on her vision, her head seemed relatively clear. She figured she had her dread to thank for it. She took slow, deep breaths, anchoring herself in the feel of Thane's hand in hers. She trusted Isaac, but she knew she'd pushed his trust in her to the limits. He could turn her in to his superiors, but she didn't believe he'd do that. He could still try to kill Thane, settle their old score, but it didn't really seem like his style either.

"If my presence here will cause her trouble, however …." Thane trailed off, glancing at her.

"No." Jasmine said tightening her grip on his hand. "Don't leave." She turned her attention back to Isaac. "Please, don't tell him to leave."

Isaac stood up again, running his hand over his head, pacing a few steps before stopping to look at her. "I need a minute alone with you." He jerked his head towards the bedrooms. "Come talk to me in the other room."

She nodded. "Yeah, okay." Pushing herself to the edge of the couch she sucked in a deep breath and locked her jaw against the oncoming pain.

Thane slid an arm around her and stood, helping to pull her to her feet. She took a moment to enjoy his proximity, leaning into him and resting her face against the warmth of his exposed scales above his vest. He made a soft purring sound, vibrating through his chest, and brought a hand to cradle the back of her head. She smiled and tilted her head back to look at him, and he ducked down to give her an all too quick, chaste kiss.

She pulled away, taking careful, slow steps towards Isaac who held his arm out to her. He waited for her to cross the meter to where he stood before wrapping his arm under her left arm and around her back, pulling some of her weight over onto him. He led her to her bedroom, probably just because it was closer, and eased her down on the edge of her bed before closing the door. She watched him in silence as he started to pace again.

Finally he stopped and looked at her, waving his hand at the foot of her bed. "Mind if I sit down?"

She shook her head. "Go ahead." Sucking a deep breath in through her nose, she asked, "So … how bad is this?"

He sat down on the foot of the bed and turned, drawing his knee up onto the mattress to face her. "You have the right to your private life, Jasmine. Even if I'm seriously beginning to question your sanity." He softened the blow with a weak smile. "I'm more concerned with what you've told him about the Phantoms."

She gave him a soft huff of a laugh and shook her head. "Not a lot. He learned some on his own after we first encountered each other." She shrugged her good shoulder, minimizing the impact of her next statement. "He, uh, followed me to Chora's Den and listened in while I made my report to my liaison. I didn't know, didn't expect him to follow me. We talked after that and pretty much agreed to stay out of each other's way."

Okay, so it wasn't  _exactly_ how the whole thing went down, but Isaac didn't really need to know all the embarrassing details. He didn't need to know how Thane beat her to her target, knocked her on her ass, and then helped pull her back through the ceiling so she didn't get caught next to dead bodies or have to kill someone innocent. He certainly didn't need know she'd made the stupid mistake of forgetting drell produce venom and drank after Thane, spending the night thinking the walls were breathing. She lost focus, forgetting what she was talking about when Isaac sighed, the movement drawing her attention to his expanding chest. Her gaze caught on his scars, which seemed to be shifting, like caterpillars, wiggling their way little by little across the surface of his skin.

Isaac made a soft snorting sound and snapped his fingers in her face. "Eyes are up here, Sunshine."

She blinked a few times, trying to clear her head and met his gaze. "What was I saying?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You were telling me what Krios knows about the Phantoms."

"Right," she said, rubbing her eyelids, as if it would stop the hallucinations. "By some freak accident, we both ended up going after the same target again, maybe a month later. Guess the Citadel's a lot smaller than it seems." She looked at Isaac again, raising her eyebrows and opening her eyes wider, trying to force reality back into focus. "I got to the target first that time, and it upset him, so he started looking into me. He learned my name and found out I'm in the Alliance through one of the duct rats."

Isaac sucked in a deep breath. "What else?"

"Much later, I told him Leon's name, and we traded a few stories about our jobs. I think that's about it, really. Well, until you released me, and I went to him. I told him I'd been locked up somewhere on Earth and interrogated by Langston, but I only ever called her 'The Bitch.'" Jasmine smirked. "And I told him I had a new handler, but I didn't tell him your name until after we were on the Citadel, and even then, just your first name in conversation. And I guess he's heard us call Raúl by name tonight. All I've said about Raúl is you're having me work with him on tech stuff and he's an asshole."

"That's it?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think so." She furrowed her brow, trying really hard to recall if she'd ever told Thane anything else about the Phantoms. "I mean, I don't remember every conversation we've ever had. I told him about Leon's video, and he helped me sort through the emails his contact got ahold of."

"And you trust him, I mean, really, really trust him?" Isaac leaned toward her a little. "You didn't completely trust Nemos, yet you let him stay with you …."

"I do." She nodded, regretting the motion when it made the room seem fifty times brighter. "More than I think I've ever trusted anyone, except maybe Geoffrey and his family."

He jerked his head back a little in question. "Geoffrey, he's the one who took you in?"

She closed her eyes again, pinching the bridge of her nose, wishing the supplements would kick in. She turned her gaze back to Isaac, grateful to see the room's lighting returned to normal. "Service Chief Geoffrey Williams. He's the reason I enlisted … and he knows what I do."

The effects from Thane's venom seemed relatively mild compared to other times, but then again, they'd barely kissed. The only bothered her just then because she knew the moment with Isaac was an important one, and she didn't want to fuck it up because she was tripped out on drell venom.

Isaac didn't flinch away from the news, instead he just bobbed his head in the odd way of his. He opened his mouth as if about to say something but then paused, meeting her gaze. "Jasmine … I think Krios is married."

She winced and gave him a soft, careful shake of her head. "He's not, not anymore."

"You sure?" He raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. "How do you know?"

"Please don't ask me to tell you his secrets, Isaac." Her shoulders slumped, letting her body language convey how torn she felt between the two of them. "I know I've damaged our trust here, but please just trust me in that I know he's not."

After a long moment of silence, Isaac nodded. "Alright. You really love him?"

"Yes," she said simply.

"He's good to you?" He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes.

She smiled, indulging herself in a chuckle, despite the twinge of pain. "Far better than I probably deserve."

Isaac let out a deep breath and leaned back, pressing his palms into the bed behind him. "Sunshine, I need to know if there's anything else you're hiding from me. I can't have you keep throwing me through loops like this."

Tucking her hands between her thighs, she thought about it for a few seconds. "Nothing else is coming to mind, but if something does … I'll tell you. I promise." She waited for him to nod before asking. "Are we still good?"

"Yeah, we're still good. I get why you didn't tell me about your boyfriend, that in and of itself is a non-issue. It's just shit luck he happens to be Thane Krios." He shook his head. "I'm not going to hold our history against you, and from what I've seen of the guy, he seems pretty honorable. Especially for a freelancer. Just don't expect me and him to be friends anytime real soon."

She grinned, excitement and relief flooding her. "So he can stay?"

"Here?" Isaac pointed down, raising his eyebrows. "Shit, that's up to Raúl, it's his place, but if you legitimately believe Krios doesn't have a contract on any of us, and he's not going to have an issue with me … I guess I can handle him being around."

"Thanks, Bossman." She reached out, dropping her hand down on his knee. "You know, you're probably better than I deserve, too."

He snorted, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm better than anyone deserves, but still, you get to take this up with Raúl." Holding a hand out to her, he helped her back to her feet.

She groaned, leaning into him as they walked to the door. "But he likes you so much better."

"That's besides the point." He stopped walking and glanced down at her, smiling. "You remind me of Annabelle."

"Annabelle?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"My baby sister. Always making the craziest choices." He pursed his lips out far enough for his top lip to fold up and touch the bottom of his nose. "Mmm. I let you get away with just as much, too."

She grinned, slapping her palm against the door's release control. "That your way of saying you love me, Bossman?"

He glanced at her again, smile shifting to a smirk. "Nah, it's my way of telling you if you don't stop being such a pain in my ass, I'll end up using a Singularity to hang your ass from the ceiling and leave you there."

She laughed, punctuating it with a groan as she brought her hand up to her side. The halgraven started to help with her pain, but laughing was still off the table. He lead her back out to the living room where Thane and Raúl remained, exactly where they were a few minutes before. They stared at each other, Thane with his hands tucked behind his back, Raúl leaning against the wall. She broke away from Isaac, moving a little better on her own thanks to the halgraven, and made her way to Thane, looping her arm through his.

* * *

Thane shifted, wrapping his arm around Jasmine's shoulder, and she snuggled in against his side. He tore his gaze away from Raúl to look at Winter as he approached.

He stopped in front of Thane and held out his hand. "Krios."

Thane hesitated less than a second before shaking the man's hand, pleased to see the tension absent from his brow and around his eyes. Thane dipped his head. "Winter."

Winter turned his attention to Raúl. "I'm going back to bed. Jasmine has something she wants to ask you. Play nice you two."

Raúl smirked, his posture relaxing as he crossed his arms and looked at Jasmine, raising an eyebrow. "Goodnight, Isaac."

Thane took it as a good sign, Winter extending the olive branch—as human's said—and shaking Thane's hand as well as deciding to return to bed despite Thane still there. His subordinate's obvious shift away from hypervigilance also seemed to indicate a peace had been made, and Thane need not be concerned any longer. He remained quiet, waiting and watching. Raúl seemed content to hold his smug expression and wait Jasmine out.

Finally she let out an annoyed sigh. "Isaac is cool with Thane staying here with me if you are. So … can he stay? Please?"

Thane didn't expect to stay, he'd prepared to find someplace else to spend his nights, content to have the opportunity to spend some time with her during the day once their relationship was revealed. Whatever Jasmine and Winter discussed must've convinced the man of the genuineness of Thane's intentions. He'd already seen, by listening to her talk about her handler and then seeing the two of them interact, even with tensions high, how close the two became since she left Kahje. He hoped Winter was deserving of her admiration and loyalty.

Raúl scoffed, shaking his head and pushing away from the wall. "I should start charging you rent." He made his way towards the front door. "And make you pay for the holes they put in my walls."

"A reasonable request, I'll gladly reimburse you for damages and pay whatever you require for my staying here," Thane said, happy to do his part to keep the peace.

Raúl stopped at the door and glanced over his shoulder at Thane. "Not you." He nodded towards Jasmine. "Her."

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I'll pay for damages and a  _reasonable_ rate for rent."

The corner of Raúl's lip twitched, and he opened the door, stepping out into the darkness of night. "See you in the morning."

"Night, and … thanks." she said, but he continued walking down the stairs, not bothering to look back at her as the door slid closed behind him.

She turned to Thane, lifting a hand to press her palm against his chest. "You okay staying here?"

"If you're here, there's nowhere else I'd rather be, siha." He brushed hair out of her face and tilted her chin up to get a better look at her eyes, finding her pupils closer to normal size once more. "How are you? How is your pain? I've missed you."

She smiled, tugging at the edge of his vest. "I'm alright, really. Isaac's been taking good care of me, and Raúl gave me some non-narcotic painkillers which actually help … though I think the nightmare I had might qualify as a 'sleep disturbance' side effect. I think I'll be just fine with you beside me." She pressed up on her toes and kissed him. "Lock the door and come get some sleep?"

"Gladly." Thane let her face go and made his way to the door, taking only a moment to decipher the extra security set on the door's lock.

He made his way to the coffee table, picking up her gun and the bottle of pills Winter retrieved for her, halgraven, he'd called it. It must be the pain relievers Raúl gave her. She moved to the light switch and turned it off, leaving him to navigate by the light coming from her bedroom. Once inside the room, he set her pistol and her pain relievers down on the bedside table and closed the door, locking it as well. When he turned around, she stood a meter away, just watching him with a soft smile on her face.

"God I missed you." She closed the space between them sliding her hand inside his jacket and unholstering his pistol. She sat it down on the table next to hers before returning her hands to his jacket, slipping it down off his shoulders before moving to hang it on a hook on the closet door.

He followed her, running his hand along the bare skin of her right arm when she turned back around. Stopping with his fingers on the strap of her tank top, he met her gaze. The corners of her mouth twitched downward, but she nodded. He pushed the strap aside, tugging the fabric down her chest until he saw the fresh scarring on her shoulder, just below her clavicle, not far from her coracoid process. He moved around her, looking at her back, but it didn't leave an exit wound. The bullet must've lodged in her scapula, which explained the extent of the incision scars in the front. Those would likely heal completely and fade, but the damage done from the bullet would leave a mark. Carefully, he slid the strap back into place and then lifted the hem of the shirt, revealing the scarring on the right side of her abdomen. She turned, letting him see the other side, verifying it went all the way through.

"There was a small nick in my large intestine, but the doctor found it easy enough when she went in to clean out the wound." She turned back around to meet his gaze, lifting a hand to stroke the frills along his jaw. "She sealed it off no problem, and I've been on antibiotics. She reinforced my shoulder with a protein mesh. Isaac just took the Medi-gel off tonight. Give me another couple of weeks and I'll be fine." Hands moving to the clasps of his vest, she began working them free, relieving him of the vest as soon as she tugged them loose. She hung it up next to his jacket and then took his hand, guiding him back to the bed.

He sat down on the edge and started pulling off his boots. "I should've come sooner, but I'm pleased to see Winter has been looking after you while you heal. He seems to care a great deal about you, and you him."

Sitting down next to him, she yawned and winced. "He's a really good guy. You'll have to tell me the rest of the story about the two of you tomorrow."

"Indeed." He stood again, picking up his pistol and moving to the other side of the bed. He sat his weapon on the table nearest to where he'd be sleeping and climbed into the bed. He'd have to go retrieve the rest of his belongings from where he hid them in the woods in the morning, not expecting the new arrangement.

She turned off the light and crawled over the mattress to get closer to him before laying down, easing back into his arms, letting out a contented sigh. "Did your job go okay?"

Thane suppressed a shudder. "It … is something else we should talk about tomorrow. Get some rest, siha."

"Okay," she mumbled, voice already heavy with sleep.


	22. An Unexpected Visitor

**An Unexpected Visitor**

Thane rolled over, the faint scent of coffee tickling his nostrils. He opened his eyes, gaze falling on Jasmine. Smiling, he moved a little closer to her, carefully draping his arm over her rib cage, avoiding her injured abdomen. Her eyes snapped open, and she tensed for a fraction of a second before smiling. Turning her head to meet his gaze, she lifted a hand to trail her fingers along his cheek and jaw.

"Good morning." Pushing up on his elbow, he leaned over her, brushing his lips against hers. "I believe I smell coffee, which I assume means it's time for you to wake up and return to your studies."

She groaned, eliciting a chuckle from him. He tucked hair behind her ear before trailing his fingertips along the side of her face and kissed her again. Wrapping her arm around his neck, she tugged him back to her when he started to pull away, so he kissed her again, opening his mouth to her tongue's explorations. The feel of her fingers, kneading against his neck and shoulders, her warmth pressed against his side, the taste of her tongue in his mouth, the scent of her skin and hair … a soft moan vibrated through his chest and throat before he caught himself, stamping down his arousal before he let himself get carried away. He missed her, missed everything about her, but she was in no condition for such activity.

He broke the kiss, swallowing down the desire to explore every curve of her body. Her pupils were dilated, but he knew it didn't happen because of his venom, not so swiftly. No, he took it as a sign of her own arousal, just like the light flush of her skin and her nipples standing out against the fabric of her tank top with each, unsteady rise and fall of her chest. A gentle tap on her bedroom door saved him from losing his resolve, before his hands started to wander.

She sighed, turning her head toward the door and raising her voice to say, "We're up, I'll be out in just a minute." Looking back at Thane, she lifted her head from the pillow to press her lips to his.

He rolled over, clearing the way for her to get up, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Standing up, he rounded the bed to retrieve his vest and jacket but stopped when she called out to him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw she held out the linen shirt of his which she'd kept when she left Kahje.

"Wear this." She eased herself up to a sitting position.

Curious, he'd thought she wanted it for herself, he asked, "Have you decided you no longer find it to your liking?"

She smirked. "I like it a lot better when it smells like you. You can change out of it later."

The notion warmed his heart, bringing a smile to his face. "As you wish, siha."

* * *

Jasmine popped the pills into her mouth, chasing them down with a swallow of orange juice. "Thanks," she said as Isaac slid a cup of coffee in front of her before turning back to the stove. She glanced over her shoulder at Thane who lingered behind her, seeming hesitant to sit down next to her. She raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the chair next to her.

"Do you drink coffee, Krios?" Isaac asked, casting a glance at Thane over his shoulder.

"No, thank you." Thane pulled out the chair next to her, perching on the edge as if he expected he might have to jump back to his feet at any second.

He seriously needed to relax. If Isaac picked up on Thane's unease, it'd only make Isaac think he had a reason to be wary with Thane. She so did not want to deal with another scene like the one she saw the night before, both men in a standoff, weapons drawn and aimed.

_I'll shoot them both if they put me through that shit again._

"Juice?" Isaac turned sideways, raising a brow at Thane before gesturing to the carafe in front of Jasmine.

"Ah. Yes, please." Thane dipped his head.

Isaac smirked, pulling a glass down from the shelf above the sink and brought it over, setting it down in front of Thane before turning his attention to Jasmine. "Is he always so polite?"

"You should've seen how he was when we first met." She grinned, picking up her coffee cup to blow over the top of the aromatic liquid, breathing in its heavenly scent. "I've been a fantastically bad influence on him." Glancing at Thane, she winked.

He chuckled, pouring himself a glass of juice. "My thanks." Taking a drink, he pursed his lips a little, tilting his head to the side. "What fruit is this from?" he asked her.

"It's orange juice." She snorted at the look of confusion on his face. "Yes, the actual fruit is called 'orange.'" Reaching over to the bowl of fruit sitting on the table, she picked up an orange and held it out to him before getting one for herself. "Peel it first."

Digging her thumbnail into the orange's skin, she started to peel her own, watching Thane as he sat down his glass and began to do the same. She separated out the segments, laying them down on the placemat before bringing one to her mouth to bite in half. Thane broke his apart, turning one of the pieces over in his fingers, studying it before tasting it. He hummed, nodding his head and licking his lips as he chewed. She grinned, putting the rest of hers in her mouth.

Isaac walked over, carrying two plates, and Jasmine moved her orange aside, clearing the way for the plate he waited to set down in front of her. He put the other plate in front of Thane, and then he stole one of her orange segments, popping it into his mouth as he made his way back to the stove. She chuckled, glancing at Thane who seemed all at once surprised Isaac thought to feed him, too, and half convinced the dish contained poison.

"My thanks," he finally managed to say when Isaac sat down with his own plate and mug of coffee. It took him a moment, but finally he seemed to decide it safe to eat, or at least he decided he'd take the risk—probably to appease her.

Isaac shrugged, bobbing his head. "No problem."

Jasmine cleared her throat after a few minutes of eating in silence. "So … what?" She glanced at Isaac. "Somewhere between the two of you fighting and you getting shot, you two stopped to introduce yourselves?" She arched an eyebrow, gaze flicking back and forth between Thane and Isaac.

Isaac gave her a dirty look, but she saw the twitch of the corner of his mouth and the amusement in his eyes. "Nah." He shook his head. "I patched myself up and went back to Dira—my contact—but of course a dead body attracts a crowd … police, so I couldn't get close. I went to her office, instead, trying to see if I could figure out why he killed her." He put down his fork, propping his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together as he turned his attention to Thane. "You realize she kept a copy of those files, your face and your name was in them. It said you'd left the Compact and started freelancing. There were pictures of your wife and kid. Your home address."

Thane sucked in a slow, deep breath, folding his hand around Jasmine's when she reached for him. "I am aware," he finally said. "Just as I'm aware you destroyed her laptop after discovering those files—without making a copy of your own. It's why I followed you to Asteria, I needed to know what, if anything, you would do with the knowledge." He looked down at her hand in his and swallowed. "My wife is …."

"Thane," Jasmine interrupted him when he hesitated. "You don't have to tell him, it's alright."

He offered her a grateful smile and dipped his head. "Indeed, but … I want to. He's important to you, and it's clear he cares for you, too." He squeezed her hand. "And … I hope it might prove illuminating to him, about his contact's actions."

She nodded, gnawing on the corner of her lip and glanced at Isaac. His gaze shifted between her and Thane, a quiet curiosity in his eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"I have been made a widower, thanks in part to the files T'Vera sold to the Shadow Broker." Thane turned his attention back to Isaac and cleared his throat. "My enemies purchased the information about me, and too cowardly to come after me personally, they went after my wife and child while I was away, pursuing a target. She hid our son, kept him safe, but it cost her life."

Isaac's eyebrows arched, and he brought his intertwined fingers up to rest against his mouth. He watched Thane for a moment longer before sighing, shaking his head. "Jesus. Damn, I'm sorry."

"Indeed," Thane said, voice somber as he dipped his head.

Jasmine let the silence stretch between them for a long minute, caressing Thane's hand with her thumb. The heavy atmosphere began to weigh on her, making her want to change the subject. "What happened on Asteria?"

"Ah." He smiled at her, gaze flicking back to Isaac. "Perhaps it is not for me to say, siha."

Isaac smirked, turning his attention to her. "I had a boyfriend on Asteria for a couple of years.  _Your_  boyfriend got more than an eye-full spying on us."

Jasmine let out a bark of laughter before wincing, her free hand moving to her abdomen as mending muscles spasmed painfully.

"After about four days, he woke me up in the middle of the night, standing over Andre's bed. Andre and I were both buck ass naked, and Thane already moved my weapon off the table next to me. I flared, ready to Throw his ass, but before I could get up enough energy, he pointed his gun at my head." He looked at Thane, raising a questioning eyebrow. "What was it you said?"

Thane blinked, lowering his gaze, eyes moving back and forth, undoubtedly seeing something no one else could. "I said, 'You would be wise to forget what you have learned, Winter.'"

"Yeah." Winter pursed his lips and turned his attention back to Jasmine. "I figured if he'd intended to kill me, I'd already be dead. I was pissed, but I'm not stupid. He had me dead to rights, and Andre was still sound asleep next to me. He'd already made it clear he was dangerous. Knew my name and could find me. Besides, I didn't have any intentions of sharing the information, hell, I'd already forgotten most of it, so I nodded. He watched me for a few seconds and then nodded, too, before backing away from me until he got to the door and just left."

"Not exactly," Thane said, tilting his head a little, lips turning up in a smile. "I watched you for another week, just to be sure of your intentions."

Isaac laughed, picking his fork back up. He took a bite, a thoughtful look on his face as he chewed. "I used an alias with Andre, so I figured you must've done some research on me to learn my name … how did you  _not_  know my first name is Isaac?"

"I actually wasn't able to find much about you through my usual methods, and what I did find came attached to one alias or another." Thane used his fork to cut into his egg. "I only learned the name 'Winter' by chance." He lifted his fork but stopped, meeting Isaac's gaze. "You made a call, it sounded formal, the woman you spoke with called you 'Winter' … I found your response to the name telling."

Jasmine lifted an eyebrow, curious, but something about the look in Isaac's eyes discouraged her from asking.

Isaac glanced down at his plate, whatever darkness pulled at him vanished from his eyes when he looked up half a second later. "I prefer Isaac."

"As you wish." Thane dipped his head. "You may call me Thane, if you'd like."

Isaac nodded, turning his attention back to his plate.

* * *

"Isaac?" Jasmine looked up at him as he helped her down the stairs, taking the opportunity while Thane wasn't around to broach the subject. "You said not to talk to anyone outside of the Alliance about this thing with Cerberus unless you say so …."

"You want to talk to Thane?" He lifted an eyebrow, and she nodded. "I'm not comfortable with the idea, Sunshine. I'm sorry. I don't really know him, but more importantly, we don't really know what we're going to turn up. Maybe once we have a better idea of what's going on."

She sighed but nodded again, accepting his decision. "Alright."

"Where'd he take off to, anyway?" Isaac asked, letting her ease out of his grip when they hit the ground.

The halgraven helped enough once it worked its way into her system, she could handle flat surfaces on her own without too much problem. Besides, she didn't want to wrinkle his pretty, purple suit. Still, she stayed close to him, just in case. "He went to go get his things since he'll be staying with us."

"Cool." They walked a few more steps in silence before Isaac spoke again, "What he said about his wife … I didn't know Dira was involved in all of that until after her death."

Jasmine glanced up at him, taking in the pinched look around his eyes. "No one's blaming you, Bossman. You're not responsible for her actions, or what happened as a result."

Apparently it wasn't exactly the point he'd hoped to get across, because his brow furrowed and he held out a hand, stopping her in her tracks. "No, I mean … well, I'm glad no one's blaming me, but what I'm saying is, you need to know it's not the type of thing I'd approve of. If I'd known she did things like that, endangering innocent people like Thane's wife and kid, I wouldn't have done business with her. Wouldn't want you or any of my other Phantoms to, either."

"Alright, I get you." She shifted a little, standing still for so long starting to make her abdomen ache with a dull, deep throb. "But, just so you know, I didn't think for a second you'd be okay with what she did. And I hope you don't think I'd be, either."

He shook his head, starting to walk again a little slower. "Nah. I guess I just felt like it needed said."

"Okay." She turned her attention to her feet, extra cautious with her steps, wanting to avoid accidently stepping down on uneven ground and jostling herself.

They crossed over to Raúl's place in silence, and Isaac held his arm out to her again. She leaned into him, letting him support her up the stairs. He let go of her again at the top, moving to unlock the door. He tapped twice before opening the door, announcing them to Raúl. They went inside, and Jasmine made her way to her workstation, easing herself down into the chair. Raúl already laid out a datapad with a long list of tasks for her.

"You didn't go back to sleep, did you?" Isaac asked Raúl, and Jasmine glanced over at the other Phantom.

Raúl shook his head. "Tried. Couldn't. Decided to get some work done instead." He finally looked up, bloodshot eyes zeroing in on Isaac. "Krios isn't with you, is he?"

"No, he has something to do." Isaac lifted an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"I have something." Raúl turned his chair a little, gaze slipping to Jasmine before shifting back to Isaac. "Project Evolution's goal is to use a mix of cybernetic implants, experimental drugs, and … I don't know what else to call it other than psychological torture, to create 'a unit of advanced soldiers capable of rivaling the strength of the krogan, the biotics of the asari, the focus and endurance of turians, and the ingenuity and reflexes of the salarians.'"

Jasmine's stomach sank, blood running cold in her veins. There it was, a solid connection between the Alliance and Cerberus' fucked up ideals of acceptable behavior if it put humans closer to the top.

_Any means necessary, it's what Cerberus' manifesto said._

"Psychological torture … what are they doing?" Isaac leaned against her desk, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, simulations tailored to each soldier to induce terror, operant conditioning using shock treatments as punishments … you name it." Raúl took a deep breath and raked a hand through his hair. "They've reported thirty-two deaths in their failed trials so far."

"Are these … do we know if these people are volunteering, or …?" Jasmine swallowed, letting her words trail off, unable to give voice to her fears.

Raúl turned his attention back to his console, clicking through a few screens. "Some of them, but it looks like the majority were coerced into joining the project. Soldiers who otherwise were up for CAT-6, men and women who were struggling with finances, and it looks like a handful of others were convinced to sign on to get someone they cared about out of trouble." He glanced up again. "There's medical charts, experiment video logs, images … but nothing that specifically implies this is a joint project with the Alliance. Not on Cerberus' end, anyway. The evidence on the Alliance's end is circumstantial, it's completely possible the Project Evolution the Alliance speaks of is different from Cerberus' project of the same name."

_It's enough evidence for me. Jesus, I think I'm going to be sick._

"You can access the video logs?" Isaac asked, rubbing a hand over his face, disillusionment heavy in his gaze.

Raúl nodded. "Yeah, I can send them over to Jasmine's workstation if you want."

Isaac pushed away from her desk to grab another chair. "Yeah, I want to see this myself."

* * *

Thane headed back to the prefab, knapsack slung over his shoulder, sniper rifle case held loosely in his grip. The woods weren't thick, at least not at his location, and he wondered momentarily what the rest of the planet looked like. Movement at the edge of the treeline caught his attention and he stopped, focusing on the area ahead. Another movement, sunlight glinting off something metallic, urged Thane to seek cover behind a tree, drawing his pistol.

He watched as a shape separated itself from the trees, face and head covered, yet clearly human, sniper rifle slung over his back. Raúl's prefab—Jasmine's current location—sat just on the other side of the treeline, and the apparent assassin headed in that direction. Thane's heart thumped against his ribs, and he pulled his battle sleep around him. Slipping his bag back down to the ground, he set his gun case next to it. Stepping out from behind the tree, he moved, each step calculated and silent.

He managed to get within a meter and a half of the man before the assassin glanced around, catching sight of Thane. He didn't give the human the opportunity to react, hitting the man with a Warp. The assassin fell to the ground, body twisting in an unnatural angle, dead leaves and moss sticking to him as he writhed in agony. Thane dropped to a knee, wrapping his arm around the man's throat, choking off the oxygen to his brain until he fell unconscious.

Glancing around, making certain he wasn't seen, Thane grabbed the man by the wrists and dragged him back into the cover of the trees. Opening his omni-tool, he placed a call to Jasmine, leveling his pistol on the inert assassin while he waited for the call to connect.

"Hey," Jasmine said when she answered, her smile faltering a second later. "What's wrong?"

"Is Isaac with you, I need to speak with him." Thane shifted his gaze back to the unconscious man, already starting to rouse.

"I'm here, what's up?" Isaac's voice carried over the call, but Thane didn't return his gaze to the screen, instead, he turned his arm, aiming his omni-tool's camera at the assassin on the ground.

"Where are you?" Isaac asked, voice suddenly crisp and fully alert.

Thane lifted his arm to look back at the screen. "Fifty meters into the woods, almost directly behind your location."

"I'm on my way." Isaac disappeared from the screen, but a second later Thane heard him say, "Jasmine, stay here. Raúl, arm your defenses and check the perimeter."

"What's going on?" Jasmine's face appeared on the screen.

"I've intercepted an armed individual, I believe an assassin." Thane turned his attention back to the man who stopped moving, eyes still closed but obviously conscious once more. "He was watching your location. I must go, siha, he is awake."

"Be careful," she said, voice straining with fear.

He risked glancing up at her for less than a heartbeat before returning his gaze to the assassin. "Of course, I'll see you soon." He dropped his arm, leaving it to her to cut the call or not, unwilling to move the weapon he kept trained on the man in order to close his omni-tool until Isaac arrived.

A few seconds later, Thane heard Isaac approaching, undoubtedly making noise for Thane's benefit. He didn't know Isaac, not really, but he knew the man to be more than adequately skilled enough to move in utter silence, should he choose. Thane glanced up, spotting Isaac and giving him a quick nod of acknowledgement before turning his gaze back to the human laying in the damp leaves.

The man's eyes snapped open, and he spun, kicking out at Thane. Thane jumped over his legs, firing a shot into the dirt, centimeters from the man's head, in warning. He didn't heed the threat, however, executing a kip up and lashing out at Thane with his fists. Thane stepped to the side and behind the man, striking both kidneys, dropping the would be assassin back to his knees.

Isaac arrived, pointing his own weapon at the wheezing man. "Get up."

* * *

Jasmine checked her pistol for probably the fifth time since she disconnected the call with Thane. Raúl glanced over his shoulder at her, tension crystal clear in his normally complacent eyes. He didn't say anything, though, just gave her a once over before turning his attention back to the security feeds.

"They're bringing someone back with them … do me a favor, in the closet in the front, there's a set of mass effect cuffs." He moved to the back entrance, the same door Isaac left out of. "Grab them for me?"

_Right. Because I'm your fucking errand girl._

"Sure." She pushed off the edge of her desk where she'd been sitting, figuring it'd be easier for her to move from there than the chair if something happened.

Making her way to the living room, she rounded the couch and opened the small closet door in between the kitchen and the first bedroom. She pushed aside Raúl's parka, finding a shelf built into the back. Spotting the cuffs, she grabbed them and then stopped, a turned over picture frame catching her eye. She pursed her lips, curiosity practically screaming in her head, begging her to flip it over and just take a quick peek. She didn't though, knowing she wouldn't have wanted Raúl to look if the roles were reversed. Instead, she stepped back out of the closet and closed the door behind her.

The sound of voices trickled back to her as she made her way back to the office, but she saw no one, so she followed the sound through Raúl's prefab, finding the three of them surrounding a man dressed all in black, the most stupid, clichéd looking wrap covering his face and head. Isaac carried a sniper rifle slung over his back, a make she'd never seen before and knew didn't belong to him. Thane looked up as she moved a little closer, and she saw something shift in his eyes, like a glacier thawing in a second, only to refreeze the next moment. She moved to stand next to him, holding the cuffs out to Raúl who was busy forcibly making Mr. Cliché sit down at a long, metal table. He took the cuffs from her, activating the mass effect fields over the man's wrist before locking them in place to the table. Reaching up, he yanked the covering off Mr. Cliché's head and face, revealing a relatively plain looking man with hair somewhere between blond and brown.

"I've seen this man before." Thane shifted, waving a hand at the man as all eyes moved to him. "He works at the docks, unloading cargo."

Isaac raised an eyebrow. "A local." It wasn't really a question. "Who sent you here?" he asked, turning his attention back to the cuffed man, pistol aimed and steady.

Mr. Cliché didn't answer, didn't even bother to look at Isaac, so Raúl punched him in the face. Jasmine took a slow, silent breath, detaching the part of herself that might care about the fact they'd cuffed a man to a table and apparently were about to beat answers out of him, tucking it away deep inside herself. She took a couple of steps back, leaning against the wall to take the weight off of her abdomen.

"Who sent you here?" Isaac asked again.

After a few seconds of lingering silence, Raúl hit him again. Mr. Cliché let out a growl, glaring at Raúl.

"Do I really need to ask you again?" Isaac raised an eyebrow.

Mr. Cliché glanced at Isaac and scoffed, so Raúl broke his nose. Blood poured down the man's face, splattering across the table's surface. Jasmine blinked, pushing away the hint of shock creeping in around the edge of her consciousness.

"Fuck." The man groaned, his hands straining against the cuffs. Leaning down over the table, he let the blood drip, his voice thick and choked, when he finally said, "I can't …."

Raúl hit him again, that time in the ribs, and Jasmine thought she might've heard something crack. He sucked in a sharp, deep breath and it seemed to catch in his lungs. Face turning red, air hissing back out of him, he let out a whimper. She expected Isaac to ask again, but instead he just waited in silence.

Mr. Cliché wheezed, blood still pouring down his face, he turned his attention back to Isaac. "Fuck you."

Raúl moved to the other side, pulling his arm back and ramming his fist into the man's ribs, and Jasmine knew she heard a crunch of bone the second time.

"Alright," Isaac said pursing his lips and bobbing his head a little. "Let's try something else. Who's your target?"

The man's gaze started to flick towards Raúl, but he stopped himself. So minute, Jasmine almost didn't catch the gesture, but Thane certainly did. He let out a soft breath, just loud enough for her to hear. She glanced at him, seeing the hint of relief around the corners of his eyes before it disappeared completely. Isaac caught it, too, she'd bet credits on it, but she wasn't sure whether or not Raúl would've seen it from his angle. If he did, he didn't let it show.

"Stand down," Isaac said when Raúl pulled his hand back again.

Raúl didn't balk at the order, his posture shifting to something more relaxed as he backed away, moving to lean against the wall behind Mr. Cliché.

"Is he your only target?" Isaac asked, rolling with what little Mr. Cliché inadvertently gave him.

Jasmine glanced at Raúl, but he didn't react, which either meant he'd caught the giveaway, or he just didn't find it surprising. She considered both options equally valid, after all, he was a Phantom and undoubtedly made enemies, not to mention the guy was found outside his house. She had a feeling, writhing around in her stomach like a pit full of snakes, she already knew—they all already knew—there were only two real options for who the guy worked for; she prayed it wasn't the Alliance.

Isaac let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. "Come on man, we have all day, and you've already got a broken nose and ribs. Do you really want to do this?"

* * *

Thane sat next to Jasmine, hand on her back. He could tell the man's self-inflicted death bothered her, undoubtedly making her think of her own mother's suicide. None of them anticipated the assassin might take his own life, certainly not through such an unusual method. Well, Thane supposed it was only truly unusual to him, Isaac said the method of hiding cyanide capsules in the mouth was an old tactic for human spies and soldiers entering enemy territory. They'd gotten precious little information from the man, only that his intended target was Raúl and he worked for Cerberus, before he poisoned himself. They now sat, gathered together in silence, in Raúl's living room.

"How soon can you be ready to leave?" Isaac asked, turning his attention to Raúl.

"It depends … are we talking a permanent move?" Raúl shifted, turning in his seat to face Isaac more squarely.

"They'll just keep sending more." Isaac took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I know we'd agreed you could settle in somewhere; you made this place your home."

"No place will  _ever_ be home to me again, Isaac." Raúl shook his head, and Thane detected an undertone of grief to his voice. "This was just a place to rest. It's going to take a few days to break everything down and have it ready to be shipped." He tilted his head to the side. "If I'm not traveling with my gear, I'll need to know if you want it sent somewhere specific so I can call my guy and have him there ready to retrieve it all."

"I don't know yet, but I'll stick around and help you get things sorted." Isaac turned to Jasmine and frowned before shifting his gaze to Thane. "Will you take her somewhere, look after her for awhile?"

Jasmine scoffed, shaking her head. "What? No. Isaac, that assholes came after Raúl because we're looking into Cerberus. You've seen how ruthless they are. I'm not leaving you here to risk getting killed because of a mess I created."

"It's not negotiable, Jasmine." Isaac sliced the air with his hand. "You're still healing from injuries, you're a liability right now if more do show up. So, you're going, with or without your boyfriend to help you out. And don't make me tell you again, I'm a grown man, I made the decision to get involved. I made the decision to include Raúl in this." He lifted an eyebrow. "Are we clear?"

Thane felt the muscles of her back tense beneath his palm, but she nodded her head. "Yes, si— Yeah, we're clear."

The corners of Isaac's lips twitched in the start of a smile. "I assume you'd rather have him with you?"

"Of course," she said, turning her head to look at Thane. "You good with that, or do you have another job lined up?"

He smiled, rubbing small circles against her spine. "I have no contracts, I'll stay with you for as long as you desire. I am yours, siha."

Her eyes softened, and she leaned into him a little. "I'll alway want you with me, but I won't keep you from work longer than necessary." Suddenly, she jerked back upright, snapping her jaw down on a pained hiss, fear flooding her gaze. "Theodus. Jesus Christ, what if they go after him?"

"Theodus will be fine." Thane moved his hand, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face. "I will call him when we are finished here. He is resourceful, he has … security measures." He didn't wish to say exactly what those security measures were, it wasn't his place. Indeed, he'd have rathered she not provided Theodus' name to her handler and coworker without Theodus having given permission, but he realized she was stressed and not thinking clearly.

Raúl cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "Will I be continuing to look into Cerberus and the Alliance? If so, I think it might be helpful if I hear the entire story." He glanced at Jasmine and then back to Isaac. "What she knows, what this Theodus knows."

Isaac hummed, the sound indecisive until he turned to her. "It's your call."

She sucked in a deep breath and leaned back against the cushions. After a moment, she let out a slow, crackling groan. "Show him Leon's vid, I'll start there."

He bobbed his head and pushed himself up from his chair. "I'll go get my laptop. Raúl, lock it back down behind me."

Pulling out his weapon, he checked it over and headed for the door. Raúl stood, following behind his handler, leaving Thane and Jasmine alone for the time being. She let out a sigh, shifting restlessly.

Thane let out a soothing thrum, guiding her closer against his side. "Isaac is exceptionally skilled, siha. I realize it may not bring you much comfort, but I have no doubts he is capable of defending himself, should the need arise."

"I hope so." She laid her head on his shoulder.

When Raúl returned, he stopped in the doorway and watched the two of them for a moment before averting his gaze, staring at the floor.

She pulled away, easing herself back upright, pursing her lips a little as she glanced over the other Phantom. "You alright, Raúl?"

He looked up, meeting her gaze and lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "It's not the first time. Probably won't be the last. I'll, uh, I'll put together some files for you to take with you, keep studying … if you want."

She nodded. "Sure."

Raúl turned back towards the office area and disappeared from sight, leaving Jasmine and Thane alone once more.

"He seems upset, doesn't he?" She sucked in a deep breath. "I'm going to go talk to him. Give me a minute?"

"Of course." Thane stood, helping her to her feet.

Tucking his hands behind his back, he watched as she navigated around the furniture. It relieved some of his concern to see her moving so easily with the help of the halgraven. It only seemed to bother her when she moved to sit or stand, or as he saw that morning, using the stairs. Glancing around the living room, he took in the hints of personalization and warmth the place held. Clearly, Raúl put a part of himself into the prefab, despite his instance the place wasn't his 'home'. Oh, there weren't photographs lining the walls, or an especially large collection of decorations or other sentimental objects, but there were signs of modifications made to the prefab to accommodate his preferences, shelves built and hung by hand, patterned curtains drawn over the shutters. They weren't large alterations, but alterations all the same—not something anyone in his profession would be likely to bother with if they didn't feel as if they were settling into their location.

A few moments later, Thane heard movement from the office, and Raúl and Jasmine's voices grew louder as they moved back towards the living room. Thane turned his attention back to the doorway and waited, listening as the front door opened again and Isaac's voice joined the others. Jasmine stepped through the doorway first, her gaze finding Thane's. She smiled, but something haunted her gaze, and he suspected it had more to do with the fact she agreed to allow Raúl and Thane to view Leon's video than the Cerberus assassin who came to kill her coworker.

She moved to him, trailing a hand across his arm as he turned to help her sit down. He supported her weight, letting her ease herself down before taking a seat next to her. Isaac sat on her other side, putting his laptop on the table in front of him, and Raúl perched on the arm of the couch next to him as he started the laptop.

When he pulled up the video file, Leon's face appeared on the screen, frozen in the last hours of his life. Jasmine let out a huff of a breath, drawing Thane's attention to her, and she clenched her jaw. He reached across and took her hand in his, letting her lace her fingers with his in the way she'd come to prefer, no longer a foreign feeling to him but a quite welcomed one. He rubbed his thumb along the length of her forefinger, and she smiled, jaw relaxing once more. Isaac started the video, and Leon's voice filled the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on Patreon now, if you'd like to make a pledge: https://www.patreon.com/mosaiccreme


	23. Continued Betrayals

**Continued Betrayals**

The sheer level of callousness and insanity in Leon's eyes as he spoke left Thane unsettled, but when the man turned his omni-tool to show Jasmine, splayed out on the floor, unconscious, wounds he inflicted on her still fresh, Thane wanted nothing more than to choke the life out of the already dead man. She'd told him of the video, but seeing it himself ….

The video cut off abruptly, and Isaac leaned forward, closing the laptop. "That's all the Alliance sent me."

"During my interrogation, they let me see a few seconds more, unintentionally—or maybe intentionally, who knows? Anyway, right after, Leon starts talking about how loyal I am to the Alliance." Jasmine waved her hand, the gesture jerky, her agitation clear in the tight lines of her face. "Or Phantoms, whichever he meant by 'you assholes'—and how it's a bad thing because there's something I don't know. The Bitch cut the vid off right after, so I didn't get to hear him say whatever this thing is."

"What bitch?" Raúl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Langston," Isaac said, propping his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands.

"Ah." The twitch of Raúl's brow and soft nod made it clear he understood the sentiment behind the nickname for the woman. "So, you haven't seen the rest?"

"It doesn't appear in the transcripts I saw, or the vid they sent when I requested a copy." Isaac pointed at his laptop and shrugged, leaning back against the couch. "But I believe her."

"Thanks …." She took a deep breath, turning her attention back to Raúl "So, I tried to put it out of my mind, but I couldn't. When Isaac agreed to be my handler, he told me to take a month off to get my head on straight. I spent the time with Thane," she said, reaching over to take Thane's hand, the act seeming more instinctual than intentional, "and when I finally realized I wasn't going to be able to let it go until I knew what Leon was talking about, I started digging."

"Huh." Raúl crossed his arms over his chest, lips pulling down at the corners as he narrowed his eyes at Jasmine.

"What?" Tone warning of potential backlash, she arched an eyebrow.

Thane brushed his thumb over the back of her hand, hoping to help soothe her before something regrettable happened. She sighed, giving his hand a light squeeze, but kept her gaze locked on Raúl.

"Just not what I would've expected from you." He shrugged, standing up from the arm of the couch and moved to the chair. "Relax, it's a good thing."

She scoffed, and though Thane didn't see the gesture as he watched Raúl, he felt fairly certain she rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, I started out by looking into Leon and his family. His dad was a well known public figure, so that part wasn't too hard, but it didn't get me anything really useful. So, I called Theodus. He found a bunch of messages back and forth between Leon and his father, Jasser, as well as some between Jasser and Admiral Holstead."

"What was in the messages?" Raúl asked.

Jasmine snorted. "Be patient, and I'll tell you. Jasser learned about some project Cerberus was working on and was upset over it, though he didn't say exactly what or why. Leon warned him away, telling him the Illusive Man is too dangerous. Jasser ended up contacting Holstead, who also warned him away. I've deleted them, but Theodus can send them to me again."

"That's it? That's what put you on to Cerberus?" Raúl arched an eyebrow, and in the moment, Thane understood perfectly why Jasmine wasn't especially fond of the man.

She turned her attention to Isaac. "Can I shoot him? Please?"

"Siha." Thane smirked, rubbing his thumb over her hand again.

Isaac chuckled, shaking his head. "Play nice, you two."

The dynamics between the three Alliance Phantoms intrigued Thane. Isaac appeared to be both friend and leader, offering Jasmine and Raúl a gentler guidance than Thane experienced while in the Compact. Yet, it proved effective, at least from what he'd seen so far. Both Jasmine and Raúl seemed comfortable enough to express their discontent, yet both seemed to respond immediately to the slightest hint of reprimand from their handler. Neither appeared to wish to challenge him in any way, and they both seemed to seek his approval.

He wondered what their investigation into their employer would change in the relationship. Should they be discovered, they might very easily be charged with treason, at the very least discharged from the Alliance. He held no doubts Jasmine would wish to stay in contact with Isaac, but would Isaac wish to stay in contact with her? If they weren't imprisoned for their actions—a thought which made Thane's chest constrict—would she continue to look to Isaac for guidance as Thane did with his previous handler and those who trained him and cared for him in the Compact? Perhaps the most pertinent question remaining unanswered: what would they do with the information they found?

"It got me where I needed to be, apparently," Jasmine said, tone sharp, as she looked back at Raúl. "I started looking into Cerberus after that, learned a few things, which you already know about, and ran across an extranet site requiring an access code. Theodus got me inside, but it really wasn't all too helpful either." She shrugged. "So, eventually, I turned to Isaac."

Thane cleared his throat. "I can … speak with Theodus, perhaps he'd be willing to work with you, if it'll help."

Isaac bobbed his head. "I didn't really want to involve outsiders in this, but considering we've got a body in the next room … yeah, I'd appreciate whatever either of you have to offer."

Thane dipped his head, pleased to have found a way to be of service. "Then if you'll excuse me, I'll go call him now. I should warn him, in the off chance they are aware he's been investigating them as well."

Raúl let out a soft, derisive noise in the back of his throat, but Thane pretended not to hear it. His statement wasn't intended to bruise the man's ego, he found no reason to doubt Raúl's capabilities, but he knew Theodus, knew the lengths the drell went to for security. Isaac took a slow, deep breath, his rib cage expanding significantly as he closed his eyes, and Raúl seemed to deflate, folding in on himself and dropping his gaze to the floor. When Isaac opened his eyes again, he looked at Thane and nodded.

Standing, Thane made his way to the room he shared with Jasmine and closed the door behind him. He didn't doubt the room was secure, but he ran a sweep just in case anyway. Finding no sign of any listening device or transmitter, he opened his omni-tool and placed a call to Theodus. It took him a little longer than usual to answer, but when he did, Theodus looked half asleep.

"Krios?" Theodus blinked, the background shifting around him as he pulled the laptop closer. "What can I do for you?"

Despite the understanding Theodus remained 'on call' at all hours as part of his profession, Thane still regretted having awoken him. "My apologies, I hoped you might still be awake. I'm with Jasmine and her handler, as well as another colleague of hers. They've been looking into Cerberus—Ah, Jasmine chose to share her concerns with her handler. This morning, I found an assassin stalking the grounds outside of her coworker's home—it is his equipment being used to look into Cerberus."

Theodus blinked a few more times, seeming far more alert. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Only the Cerberus assassin." Thane waved a hand, dismissing the question. "Jasmine and I thought we should warn you. She is concerned. I assured her you take excellent security measures, but regardless, it is only fair to warn you of the potential of danger."

Theodus smirked, the roguish look of his returning. "Jasmine's worried about me?"

Thane chuckled. "Indeed. I was wondering if perhaps you'd be willing to speak with her handler and coworker?"

"If the two of you believe this is a reasonable action to take," Theodus said, raising a brow ridge, "then I see no reason to protest."

"My thanks." Thane dipped his head. "Are you prepared to speak with them now, or should I call you later?"

"Call me back in a few minutes." Theodus rubbed a hand over his face. "Let me put on some tea."

"Of course, and I will take care of your fees." Thane brought his hand back up to his omni-tool. "My apologies, but they do already know your name. Jasmine used it while in front of them, unintentionally, I'm sure. Please, don't hold it against her, she's rather shaken right now."

Theodus smiled. "I'm not concerned, talk to you soon."

* * *

Jasmine watched as Thane placed a call to Theodus, smiling when the white-scaled drell appeared on the screen. His blood-red eyes found her instantly, and he flashed her a smile. She smirked, giving him a half-wave.

"You can patch it through to the main screen," Raúl said, gesturing at the vid screen mounted on the wall across from the couch.

Thane dipped his head and stood, crossing the floor to access the vid screen's signal and transferred the call. A moment of silence filled the air as Theodus took in the new faces of Isaac and Raúl, and they likewise studied him, no doubt committing his face to memory. Not that it was hard to remember Theodus. She'd already warned them of Theodus' penchant for asking questions unnecessary to his job and his teasing sense of humor. They'd discussed aliases to give to the tech infiltration specialist, so Jasmine was ready to make introductions.

She cleared her throat, drawing Theodus' attention. "Theodus, this is Malcolm and Mateo," she said, indicating first Isaac and then Raúl.

"That hardly seems fair." Theodus raised a brow ridge, mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You've given them my name, but I only get aliases in return?"

"You assume I believe 'Theodus'  _is_ your actual name." She smirked when he tilted his head in concession, granted it didn't mean Theodus  _wasn't_  his name, either. Considering he knew Thane's real name, she imagined it probably was—or at least as close to it as anyone ever got. "It's not my call, either way." She wondered what made him assume the names were aliases. Did she give it away somehow? Take a little too long to say the names, or maybe they didn't sound natural coming from her mouth. Either way, she'd have to work on it, she'd never been called out over an alias before. She doubted Thane gave him their real names, and she didn't think he'd have gone looking for them without reason, either.

"Fair enough." He turned his gaze back to Isaac and Raúl. "Hmm. So, which of you is the handler, and which of you is actively trying to trace my location?" Fingers running over his keyboard, he smirked. "An admirable attempt, to be sure, but unsuccessful nonetheless."

"Seriously?" Jasmine narrowed her eyes, looking between Raúl and Isaac, but neither said anything or looked her way.

"I'm assuming it was an automatic process, likely triggered by the call being transferred." Theodus turned his attention to her. "I hope, anyway. I've enjoyed our working relationship, I'd hate to see it come to an end."

Isaac glanced at her, and she raised her eyebrows at him, holding a pleading hand out. He turned his attention to Raúl and said, "I don't believe we need anything on Jasmine's contact, stand down."

Raúl shrugged. "It was automatic; I didn't even think about it, but it won't run again."

_Liar. Didn't think about it my ass._

"Thank you," Theodus said, still working at his keyboard.

Jasmine's omni-tool pinged, vibrating against her wrist and something about the twitch of Theodus' brow ridge as he watched her told her to look at it right away. She opened her omni-tool and found a message from him, asking her to confirm she wished for him to speak to her associates about her contracts with him and to what extent. She responded, asking him to share everything with them starting with his search for information on Leon which led to Cerberus all the way up to the extranet site he helped her access. She assured him they knew what she was looking for and why.

Theodus glanced down, away from his camera for a second and then back up again, probably reading her response. "I've compiled the requested data and included copies of my previous reports. Jasmine, you should be receiving it any moment, I will leave it to you to provide a copy to your associates as you see fit." He turned his attention to Isaac and Raúl. "In the meantime, in a nutshell—as I've heard humans say—Jasmine requested I look for information on her former handler in an attempt to uncover potential leads she might follow. At her request, I kept my search confined to servers outside of the Alliance. Little seemed relevant, except for several messages discussing Cerberus. The report touches on it all, however."

Jasmine received his compilation of reports and data while he talked, and she passed them along to the others, including Thane. Isaac said he'd appreciate what Thane and Theodus had to offer, so she took it as the greenlight she'd wanted to talk with Thane about it all. Both Isaac and Raúl opened the messages right away, scanning through the report while they listened.

"She contacted me again a couple of weeks ago with an extranet site she wanted me to hack into for her," Theodus continued. "The site belonged, of course, to Cerberus. I mirrored the site for her for a week, giving her time to securely browse without risking being traced, though I do not know what, if anything, she found of value. I can easily repeat the process for you, if you wish, or answer any other questions."

Raúl scoffed, glancing up at the screen. "A child can do that, hell, Jasmine could with a little guidance."

"You know … you talk a lot of shit, but  _you're_ the one who drew Cerberus' attention." Jasmine arched her eyebrow at Raúl's narrowed gaze, somehow more pissed off at the insult to Theodus than the jibe taken at her.

"He's just telling us the same thing she did," Raúl said, waving at the screen though his gaze was on Isaac. "This is pointless."

Isaac shot them both a warning look before turning his attention back to the screen. "Please, continue."

Theodus flashed Jasmine a shit-eating grin, pulling a smirk from her, before he looked at Raúl. "Regrettably, I'm not sure what more I can tell you, then. Unless, of course, you'd rather listen to me recount every detail of my memories instead of, oh, I don't know, reading the report I took the time to put together."

Jasmine snorted, suppressing a laugh. She loved the immediate rivalry cropping up between the two techies, especially since it looked like Theodus was definitely winning. His gaze flicked to her and he winked, earning him a chuckle despite herself. A movement from Thane drew her attention, and he lifted a hand to his mouth, coughing lightly, the corners of his mouth turning up a hair when he saw her looking at him.

_He's enjoying this, too._

"For a reasonable fee, I can trace the point of access which allowed Cerberus to detect your activity, if you'd like." Theodus smirked, dragging his attention back to Isaac as he delivered the next part, "I'm also happy to do any further research you require, for your subordinate's safety, of course."

"He's not touching my systems. No one touches my systems." Raúl crossed his arms, glaring at Theodus.

"Thank you, I'll keep it in mind. Maybe we can discuss it a little later?" Isaac looked back down at his omni-tool, but she caught the twitch of his lips, and the bob of his Adam's apple as he seemed to swallow down a laugh. "Are the actual messages from Leon and Admiral Holstead included in this?"

"Yes," Theodus said, dipping his head, "you'll find they start on page nine. I prioritized them, believing them to be the most relevant."

Isaac scrolled through his omni-tool. "And you included  _everything_ you found in this report?"

"No," Theodus said, drawing everyone's attention back to him.

"What?" Jasmine blinked a couple of times. "Why not?"

"I found things holding no relevance to the information you asked me to uncover." Theodus shrugged, but she could tell there was something more to it, something making him refuse to meet her gaze. "Most of it mundane, some of it disturbing, but still ultimately irrelevant."

She fought the urge to clench her jaw, annoyed to find he kept something from her when she paid him for his services  _and_ it was being mentioned for the first time in front of Isaac. "Like what?"

He finally met her gaze, resignation tugging his features downward. Voice soft, almost pleading, he asked, "Perhaps you'd rather discuss this in private?"

Jasmine glanced at Isaac and swallowed. It wouldn't look good at all if she pulled the plug on the conversation, especially not after promising Isaac she wouldn't keep secrets from him. Turning her attention back to Theodus, she steeled herself for his answers and shook her head. "No, it's alright. Just tell us what you found that you didn't share."

Theodus took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands over his abdomen. "Leon was obsessed with you, enough so that if the man still lived, I'd be concerned for your wellbeing."

She licked her lips, ice cold dread slithering through her veins, chilling her from the inside out. "What do you mean?"

"There were several images of you … some of them in compromising positions, they appeared to be taken without your knowledge or consent." He hesitated, letting his words linger in the air like a poisonous gas, stealing the breath from everyone in the room.

Whatever she expected, it wasn't the punch in the face he just delivered. She forced herself to breathe, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, waving her other hand for him to continue. She felt sick, violated even, to know Leon took pictures of her without her permission. She didn't even want to know what Theodus considered to be 'compromising positions', but it didn't take much of an imagination to get a general idea. Which, of course, also meant Theodus saw her in those 'compromising positions'. No wonder he didn't want to tell her. Jesus fuck, did Leon show them to anyone else? When the hell did he even take them? Was it when they were still together, or after? On Illium?

"He wrote letters to you, but never sent them, in which his tone shifted from outpourings of love and remorse to expressions of rage, at times threatening bodily harm." Theodus let out a heavy breath. "He also wrote letters to someone named Lana, cursing her for ruining everything he had with you. He appeared to be quite mentally unstable."

She felt everyone looking at her, but she didn't have it in her to meet anyone's gaze, knowing if she saw even the slightest look of anything even resembling pity, she'd lose her shit. The sonofabitch wrote letters making threats to her? Because she wouldn't take him back? Christ, she knew at the end he'd lost it, but she thought it was a recent development, all about his father … how long did he really hide his darkness from her? From everyone? His voice filled her head, laughing at her distress. His smirking face floated on the backs of her eyelids, making her want to reach for her pistol and fire at the smug expression of his until her heat sink overheated.

"Siha." Thane's gentle voice broke through the rising tide of emotions.

She didn't open her eyes, just leaned into him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, guiding her closer, pressing her in against the warmth and safety of his side.

"Is there anything else … not about Jasmine?" Isaac asked, a hint of regret to his voice.

* * *

"You shouldn't be in here, the steam's not good for you." Jasmine sat in the bath, knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped tight around her legs, despite the pain he knew the position must cause her. She'd pressed her forehead to her knees, her words carrying a slight distortion as she spoke toward her chest.

"I am fine, siha." He dipped the sponge back in the water, ignoring the mild tightness to his chest. Dripping the water over her back and shoulders, he pressed the sponge to her skin, sliding it down along her spine. "I won't stay long."

"Will you ask Theodus to make sure all it's removed and destroyed?"

"Isaac already asked, the moment you left the room, and Theodus agreed." He pulled more water up with the sponge to let it roll back down over her skin.

She'd excused herself after learning of Leon's betrayals and gone to the restroom in Raúl's home. She stayed in there for quite some time, and when she finally reemerged, her eyes were bloodshot, the delicate skin surrounding them swollen. Isaac thanked Theodus for his time and ended the call, urging Jasmine to return with Thane to the prefab where they lived. Isaac said he intended to stay and help Raúl start breaking down his equipment, and when darkness fell, the two of them would deal with the man's corpse.

Thane insisted on checking the prefab and surrounding area first, to be certain there weren't other assassins lurking in wait. Detecting no evidence of a threat, he'd returned to find her wrapped in Isaac's embrace, her face hidden against the other man's chest. For the briefest of moments, it sparked something envious and unkind in Thane, but the emotions dissipated no sooner than they appeared, leaving him with gratitude for her current handler—who appeared to be a much kinder man than Leon. Thane led her back to the prefab, and she'd gone straight in to run herself a bath when they arrived.

"Have you considered where you'd like for us to go?" he asked, running the sponge over her back again.

She sighed, dropping her arms from around her knees and looked at him, shaking her head. "No. I guess we'll check with Bossman, see if there's somewhere in specific he wants us to go. If not … anywhere  _not_  Earth or Kahje. If someone comes looking for us …."

"Indeed. Though I find I'm less concerned about Kolyat's safety than I otherwise might've been." He watched her as she pulled the elastic from her hair, letting the piled up locks fall free to brush along the water's edge. "My … I suppose you'd call him a mentor, the man who taught me much of what I know, and my former den mother informed me they have kept guard over Kolyat in my absence. I'll call them tonight and warn them, though I doubt Cerberus has any awareness of either of us. The assassin they sent didn't appear to understand what exactly he'd found himself in the middle of, only that he was meant to kill Raúl."

"You said you saw him before? Working on the docks?" She eased herself back in the water, sliding down the slope at the back of the tub until her torso submerged, water wrapping around her breasts, leaving them exposed to the air.

"I did." He put his hand in the water, gently pressing the sponge against her sternum before trailing it down along the lines of her body, up her thigh, across her bent knee and back down her shin.

She hummed at his touch, a soft smile lifting the corners of her mouth, the first he'd seen since she received the upsetting news. "Why do you think he was here? Ferris Fields isn't exactly prime real estate for insane research projects."

"I don't know, siha." He considered the question for a moment longer, running the sponge over her shoulders, careful with her tender wound. "Perhaps Ferris Fields is merely where he lived, he may have had family here. A regrettable notion, but such is the nature of any dangerous profession."

Groaning, she closed her eyes. "I hope not."

"As do I." Leaning over the edge of the tub, he pressed his mouth to hers, savoring the feel of her soft lips. "I'm going to make lunch. Call me when you're finished, and I'll come help you out of the tub."

She opened her eyes, holding his gaze with a surprising intensity. "I love you, Thane."

"And I you, siha." He brushed his fingers over her cheek. "With all that I am."

He left the sponge on her stomach and stood, looking down at her for a moment before leaving her to her bath. He went first to her room, finding her clean, comfortable clothes to dress in and laid them on a table next to the bathroom door. Then he made his way to the kitchen and began looking through the cabinets and refrigeration unit. He knew instantly Isaac made the food choices between the two of them, and he chuckled thinking of how Jasmine must've pouted to find her handler didn't indulge her love of unhealthy foods.

He'd just finished putting together a salad when he heard her call his name. Setting the bowl into the refrigeration unit, he made his way back to the bathroom, picking up the stack of clothes on his way. She sat upright in the tub again, water creating a shimmer on her face as she looked up at him. He smiled, taken by her beauty, and sat her clothes down on the sink.

"Towel?" He raised a brow ridge.

She pointed to a cabinet above the toilet. He opened it, pulling out a thick, soft towel and draped it over the rod secured to the wall next to the tub. Bending, he wrapped his arms around her, helping her to get her feet under her and lifted. He held her steady as she stepped out, water droplets sliding along her curves, drawing his attention to several interesting places, forcing him to brush aside intimate memories before they overcame him. Grabbing the towel, he started with her head, gently squeezing the mass of soaking wet hair to pull away the excess water before moving down over her back and shoulders.

He managed to dry her completely, only stopping to kiss and caress a few places along the way. Kneeling before her, he glanced up, finding her watching him with utter adoration painted over her face. She reached out, trailing her fingers over the ridge of his cheek, where scale gave way to sensitive frills. Pushing to his feet, he slung the towel over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace. She kissed him, parting his lips with her tongue, moving over his with gentle, loving strokes.

"Sunshine?" Isaac's muffled voice pulled a regretful groan from Thane as he broke the kiss.

She chuckled, patting his chest. "Go tell him I'll be out in a minute?"

"As you wish." He leaned in first, kissing her again before letting her go.

Leaving the bathroom, he made sure she wouldn't be in Isaac's line of sight. He didn't think, under normal circumstances, she'd particularly mind. She wasn't exactly modest, and he knew Isaac's sexual preferences didn't include women, but still, after learning her previous handler violated her trust in such a way, he didn't think she'd want to be seen without her intent and permission. Isaac stood in the living room, head turned toward the sound of the bathroom door when Thane made his way to the end of the hall.

"She's just left the bath," Thane said, coming to a stop a few feet away from the man and tucking his hands behind his back.

Isaac bobbed his head, an odd sort of rhythm to the gesture. "She alright?" he asked, voice pitched low.

"She is … understandably disturbed, but she has a strong mind and heart." Thane took a deep breath. "Leon was … important to her, once. She feels his betrayals acutely."

"Important … yeah." Isaac shook his head, making his way toward the kitchen. "The man was a dick, and I'm starting to think she was too easy on him."

"You knew him?" Thane asked, following along.

Isaac looked over his shoulder at Thane as he opened the refrigeration unit. "Nah. Just met him once years ago. I just know what he put her through … what he's still apparently putting her through."

"I admit I'm surprised how much you and Jasmine seem to care for one another," Thane said and then dipped his head, adding the concession, "after such a short time."

Isaac pulled out a bottle of water and turned, leaning against the counter, crossing one ankle over the other. "I care about all of my Phantoms. I make them family, I have to. It's my job to put my life before theirs if it comes to it, and I need to make sure there's a solid reason there for me to be willing to make the sacrifice if the time comes."

"Family?" Thane raised a brow ridge, finding the notion somehow both in sharp contrast and yet so similar to his own time in the Compact. Neither the hanar nor the drell responsible for his training ever set out to make him or the others family, and yet, they did become family over time … to an extent. "This is the way of the Alliance?"

Isaac smirked and took a drink of water. "Don't. I still don't entirely trust you, but even if I did, despite this shit going on between the Alliance and Cerberus … I'm not going there. You and I aren't having a conversation about the way things are done in the Alliance."

Thane lowered his gaze and dipped his head. "Fair enough." He met Isaac's gaze again. "If I may, I suggest using caution when speaking to Jasmine about family. I wouldn't recommend using the term casually with her."

"Don't say it if I don't mean it is what you're saying?" Isaac asked, and there was an undertone of challenge to the question, as if he were testing Thane in some way.

"Indeed," Thane said, continuing to hold the man's gaze.

Isaac nodded. "What do you know of her family?"

Thane blinked once. "It is no more for me to share with you than it is for you to share with me."

"Good." Isaac smiled. "Good," he said again, almost as if to himself, nodding.

Thane took a moment to process the man's response, wondering exactly what it was he hoped to find from Thane with his questions. He considered asking, but decided against it—whatever Isaac sought, he seemed content with Thane's response. Isaac took another drink from his bottle of water, watching Thane, expression giving nothing away.

Thane cleared his throat. "If you have somewhere specific you'd like for me to take her, I can arrange transportation as soon as I know our destination."

"Take her wherever you think you can best keep her safe." Isaac glanced down, as if the bottle in his hand held some answer. "I don't want to know where. I'll call her and find her once I know Raúl is secure."

"Very well." Thane dipped his head. "As you wish."

* * *

Jasmine snuggled in against Thane, grateful the fucked up day finally came to an end. Hopefully the next day would be better. He'd scheduled them on a ship leaving before dawn, heading for the asari planet Lusia. She didn't ask why he chose Lusia, it didn't really matter. She'd be with him. And she'd still be leaving Isaac and Raúl behind, with people wanting to kill at least one of them, because she stuck her nose in somewhere she probably shouldn't have.

She thought, with everything going on, she might've been able to weasel her way out of her rehab exercises, but like clockwork, Isaac came back over and ran her through them. Thane watched intently, listening to Isaac's every instruction as he discussed repetitions and tension levels for each exercise. Apparently, Thane intended to make sure she kept up with them in Isaac's absence. No real surprise there.

Her omni-tool vibrated against her wrist, pulling her from her thoughts. She opened it and saw the notification for a message, it only took her a second to recognize Ares' extranet address. She shifted onto her back and opened the message.

" _Are you still alive?"_

She let out a snort and hit reply. " _Yeah, I'm alive. Dealing with drama. Talked to Bossman about the thing I mentioned to you, about my employer and those crazy assholes … anyway, turns out the crazy assholes didn't take to well to our digging around. Someone came after the guy Bossman had looking into things, so, we're moving out again. Everything good on your end?"_

It only took a few seconds for his response to come though. " _I played tourist on Shanxi for awhile. I now owe someone a dog."_

" _Shanix? You do remember you're a turian, right? Did you kill a dog? Asshole,"_ she wrote, knowing if he killed a dog, she wouldn't fight clean like she did while they were sparring the next time she saw him.

" _It was … fun on Shanxi. And, no, I did not kill a dog. But I don't have a clue where to get one now,"_ his next message said a moment later.

She chuckled, sometimes Ares seemed so daft, she wondered how he managed to make it through life at all. " _Uhhhhh … a pet store? I guess it depends on where you're at."_

" _I will suffer a 'pet store' here on the Citadel,"_ he wrote, and she could almost hear his agitated chuff.

She'd have to ask him for the full story behind the dog thing someday, when things were calmer. If things were ever calmer again. She hit reply. " _I suppose somewhere on the Citadel might have one or two. Might have to order one special instead. Good luck with that. Glad you weren't killed on sight on Shanxi."_

Thane rolled over, draping an arm across her chest. "Who are you talking to?"

"Ares." She turned her head to look at him. "He messaged to ask if I'm still alive."

"Ah. Tell Ares hello and thank him again for assisting you on the Citadel. I am in his debt." He moved a little closer, kissing her shoulder.

She snorted. "You're not in his debt, I am. Isaac maybe, but not you."

"I am," Thane said, his tone insistent. "He was there for you when I couldn't be, he provided you with invaluable information which helped keep you alive. He contacted me to let me know you'd been injured. I am in his debt."

She snorted softly, not really up for the argument but paraphrased his message to Ares." _My drell says hi."_ Okay, so maybe it wasn't  _exactly_  paraphrasing, but it worked. She wasn't going to tell Ares that Thane said he was in Ares' debt.

Ares didn't take long to respond. " _I doubt he said 'hi' as you put it."_

" _I was too lazy to type the whole thing out. I've been shot, you know."_ She smirked as she hit send, knowing what kind of response her pity party would get her.

" _... baby,"_ Ares' wrote, and it made her snort.

"What did he say?" Thane asked, kissing her shoulder again.

She scrunched up her nose and mouth, turning her head to look at him. "Ummm, I just told him you said hi."

"Siha." Though he said it with a chastising tone, he smiled at her.

"Ugh. Okay." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "I'll tell him what you said, but you are  _so_  not in his debt. Repeat it for me, I want your  _exact_ words."

Thane chuckled, nipping at her shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine and warmth to places already begging for attention with him so close again. She really wished she'd heal faster. He hummed, undoubtedly knowing the effect he had on her and repeated his statement.

Sighing, she wrote, " _Dick. Okay, fine. He said, 'Ah. Tell Ares hello and thank him again for assisting you on the Citadel. I am in his debt.'"_

" _I was hit in the face with a pry bar, and I can still write perfectly fine."_ Ares didn't even acknowledge what Thane actually said, even after she went through all of that to write it out for him. Probably, he thought Thane was being dramatic, too.

She winced, imagining taking a pry bar to the face. " _Who the fuck hit you in the face with a pry bar, and how dead are they?"_

"What did he say?" Thane asked again.

"He didn't say anything about it, at least not yet. He's still giving me shit for complaining about being shot and using it as an excuse to not type out what you said in the first place." She grinned, turning her arm a little to show Thane the screen.

He arched a brow ridge as he read. "That sounds … painful."

" _I don't remember the name. He now knows what it feels like, though, so the name doesn't really matter anymore,"_ Ares wrote.

" _Fair enough. There wasn't anymore trouble for you on the Citadel after we parted ways?"_ she asked, wondering if Remitun did have more members of Blackwatch looking out for him than just those they fought and killed.

" _No? I didn't pay attention."_

Curious as to what exactly he meant by that, she raised an eyebrow and stared at the message for a second. Deciding it wasn't worthy prying into, not when she had Thane next to her, his warmth lulling her into tranquility. " _Good. Just making sure there weren't any surprises, other back up. Anyway, I'd better get some sleep. Thanks for checking in on me."_

" _Yep,"_ Ares wrote, short, simple, and utterly unsurprising.

Smiling, she closed her omni-tool and rolled to her side, carefully situating herself before tugging at Thane's hand to get him to move closer. She let out a weary sigh, following it with a yawn. "You never told me how your job went."

"Ah. Perhaps we'll talk about it in transit." He kissed the back of her head, moving closer until his body was flush against hers. "Sleep, siha."


	24. The Strength to Do

**The Strength to Do**

Thane held her in the crook of his arm as they lay together, stretched out over the small bed in the room assigned to them aboard the  _Borealis_. He'd spent the last hour or so telling her everything he felt he could about his contract on Omega, avoiding giving her too many details about Sahnira for Alahana's sake. She'd listened intently, asking few questions, but he heard the soft quaver of fear in her voice easy enough.

"Jesus Christ, has the entire fucking galaxy gone insane?" Her words came out a hoarse whisper, and she tightened her grip on his waist.

He pulled her in a little closer, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, the memories of 'the barn' and the things he'd seen on Sahnira's laptop left him feeling cold inside. The terrible sound emanating from the orb clinging to his consciousness despite the rest of the memory slipping back into the recesses of his mind. "Sometimes it does seem that way, doesn't it?"

She shifted, and he looked down at her, meeting her gaze. She pulled in her eyebrows and asked, "So, has Theodus found anything else important in the files he saved?"

He shook his head. "Not that he's made me aware of so far."

"Have you talked to Dr. Solus again?" She moved her hand down, slipping her thumb beneath his vest and stroked his scales of his abdomen—providing him some measure of comfort, as much as it did her, he suspected.

"Not yet," he said, lifting his hand to run his fingers over her hair.

"Do you really think Saren could be doing this  _for_ the Council?" she asked, brow drawing in deeper.

Thane took a deep breath and let it out slow. "I believe it is possible, but perhaps not plausible."

She turned her face, nestling in against his chest. "Christ."

"Indeed."

They lay in silence for several minutes until she asked, "Why Lusia?"

"Ah. I own property there, under an alias, of course." He turned, easing her onto her back and pushing up on his elbow to look down at her. "I also have a contact who lives on Lusia, a former asari commando. I've asked her to meet us when we dock. I trust her, she'll offer additional protection for you, should anything go awry while we're there." Leaning over her, he pressed his mouth to her parting lips before she could respond—undoubtedly to insist she could take care of herself. "We should do your exercises, siha."

Jasmine huffed, sticking her lower lip out in a pout. "Can't we just stay right here instead and tell Isaac I did them when he asks?"

He chuckled, kissing her again. "We can stay here for a little while longer, but then we must do your exercises."

She lifted a hand, wrapping it around the back of his head, fingers threading through his crest. "Fine, but you have to kiss me again. A  _real_ kiss."

Grinning, he pushed himself up a little further, balancing his weight on his palm. "Is that so?"

"Yes." She nodded, her face solemn.

Using his knee to spread her legs, he moved himself above her, savoring the almost instant dilation to her pupils. She missed his touch as much as he missed hers, he saw it written all over her face, smelled it on her skin, heard it in the stutter of her breath. Keeping his weight on his hands and knees so as to not put any pressure on her injuries, he lowered himself just enough to cover her mouth with his, parting her lips with his tongue. He lost himself in her, pouring as much love and passion into the one kiss as he could until finally he had to pull away or risk forgetting anything more might hurt her.

The fevered look in her eyes only increased the fire in his veins. "Your exercises will help you heal faster," he said, brushing his lips over hers again. "The sooner you are healed, the sooner I can make love to you." Regrettably, he pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the demanding pressure of his erection and held his hand out to her to help her up. "Come, siha, let's do your exercises."

* * *

Jasmine looked over the tall, gray-eyed asari, taking in her leaden-blue skin and cobalt markings. Avalina, Thane called her. The asari narrowed her eyes as she scanned Jasmine from head to toe.

Avalina turned back to Thane. "Student of yours? She's got the look, despite obviously being injured."

Jasmine arched an eyebrow, irritable with her halgraven wearing off, but still considering decking the former commando. It was bad enough Avalina thought Jasmine was Thane's 'student', but the bitch couldn't even speak to Jasmine directly?

Thane chuckled, moving closer to Jasmine, and slipped his arm around her waist—probably to remind her that she shouldn't hit the asari. "Avalina, this is Jasmine, and no, she is not my student. Please, she deserves the same respect you give me."

Avalina blinked, lifting her brow as her gaze took in Thane's fingers caressing Jasmine's side. "Goddess," she whispered, turning to Jasmine again, expression completely different, eyes wide and lips parted in a silent 'oh'. "Please, forgive my rudeness, I meant no offense."

"Sure," Jasmine said slowly, checking her annoyance and forcing a smile on her face, "no problem. But if you don't mind, can we continue this reunion in the taxi, my pain medication is wearing off."

"Oh! Yes, of course. I'm so sorry." Avalina reached for the bag at Jasmine's feet, the one with her sniper rifle case tucked away inside. "Let me help you with this."

Thane cleared his throat. "Perhaps I should carry that one." He glanced at Jasmine, and she nodded. "But if you wish, you can help carry the others."

Avalina gave Jasmine another appraising look and nodded. "Of course." She moved to the bags he indicated, and picked one up in each hand, avoiding the bag holding his sniper rifle case, as if she knew precisely which one it would be.

He picked up the bag left next to him and drapped the strap over his shoulder before bending to grab the one at Jasmine's feet, moving it to his off hand before wrapping his right arm back around her waist. Together, they moved to the waiting skycar, the feel of numerous asari eyes burning into the back of her neck. She tried to ignore it, but she let out a sigh of relief as soon as Thane settled her into the passenger seat and closed the door behind her.

Avalina waited for him to climb in the back before sitting in the driver's seat and closing her door. "So," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Thane as she lifted the skycar into the air, "what is it exactly you need from me? Your message was a little vague."

"Ah. It's possible there may be … people after us." Thane shifted in the backseat, leaning up between the two front seats. "We might require assistance if they show up, especially while Jasmine recovers."

Avalina raised her brow. "Sounds like fun. What people?"

Jasmine glanced at Thane, and he tilted his head a little, deferring to her. She turned her attention back to the asari next to her and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we can't say."

Turning her head to give Jasmine a once over, Avalina hummed and nodded. "It's alright, I'm used to not getting answers from him." She glanced at Thane again. "You know my requirements."

"Indeed." He dipped his head, settling back against the seat once more.

Jasmine wondered exactly what Avalina's 'requirements' were, but she had the feeling it really wouldn't be appropriate to ask—and she really wouldn't like the answer. She made a mental note to ask Thane about it later. The rest of the trip continued in relative silence, which was fine by her. To Jasmine's surprise, Avalina settled the taxi down outside of what amounted to a log cabin in the woods. She stepped outside of the skycar and closed the door behind her, leaving Thane and Jasmine inside.

"This is yours?" Jasmine asked Thane.

"Indeed." He leaned forward, watching Avalina through the windshield as the asari stopped a meter or so away from the car and squatted down, shifting her hand through the leaves and debris.

"What's she doing?" She sat up a little straighter, trying to get a better look at whatever Avalina messed with on the ground. "We're not going in?"

"She's disarming traps to clear the way for us." He put his hand on the side of the abandoned driver's seat. "Then, she'll scout out the premises to ensure there are no surprises."

She raised an eyebrow. "You boobytrapped your yard?"

He chuckled. "Not at all. Avalina did."

She watched the asari in silence for a few moments. "How do you two know each other?"

"She …." His voice trailed off for a second, and he sucked in a shuddering breath, drawing Jasmine's attention. Gaze unfocused and shifting, something about the cast of his features told her that he lost himself in a memory. "Standing over the last corpse. Blood seeps out of the batarian's broken, cooling body, staining the rusted, metal floor. I have the name, the last name. The assassin who killed Irikah. Would have killed Kolyat. Stiv Kay."

Jasmine shifted a little, moving as quietly as she could to get a better look at him. She didn't know if he intended to slip into the memory or not, but he didn't seem particularly distressed, despite the sharp edge to his voice as he said 'Stiv Kay'. So she left him to it, watching and listening as he told her a story the way only a drell could.

"I clasp my hands, bow my head, but the prayer doesn't come." His head tilted down, eyes falling closed as he sat in silence for a moment. "There can be no forgiveness for what I have done for I feel no remorse. I turn, leaving the body to fester and rot, tucked away in the stench-filled alleys of Omega." His hand tightened against the side of the driver's seat. "Stumble as I leave the alley. Exhausted. I haven't slept in four nights, haven't eaten in two days. Blood coats my hands, drying, making the skin between scales feel tight. I don't care. I have the last name. I will rest when I have finished, when Stiv Kay has payed for his sins."

She glanced out the window, keeping track of Avalina as the asari moved around the side of the cabin, still apparently clearing away traps.

"Vorcha shadow me," he said, drawing her attention back to him. "I hear their hissed words, barely coherent, speech like a child. 'Nice clothes,' one says, 'lots of credits.' I keep walking, tracking them by the creaks of their armor and the shuffle of their steps. Most likely Blood Pack. I don't wish to kill them, but I will if I must." His head twitched to the side, as if in response to a sudden sound. "A shift in their steps alerts me to the attack, weapons whir to life. Biotics surround me, dancing across my scales, summoned by my will. I turn, flinging out the energy in a Warp, drawing my pistol, prepared to fight. A Singularity dances in front of the vorcha, pulling them in, catching me by surprise. Glance over my shoulder. Asari, well trained commando judging by her stance, assault rifle aimed at the vorcha."

Seeing Avalina moving back to the skycar, Jasmine lifted her hand to brush her knuckles over Thane's cheek, pulling him from the memory. "She's coming back."

He blinked, gaze focusing on Avalina. "I see. I'll share the rest of the story with you later, if you wish."

She nodded as Avalina opened the door. The asari gave Thane one, quick jerk of her head and stepped out of his way. He climbed from the vehicle and then rounded it, moving to open Jasmine's door. Wrapping her arm around his shoulder when he stooped to help her out of the skycar, she took the opportunity to brush her lips over his, earning her a smile. He helped her through the uneven terrain and up the steps to the door before returning to help Avalina with their bags.

Once he got the cabin unlocked, Avalina went in ahead of them, scouting out the interior, Jasmine assumed. Thane carried their bags inside, and Jasmine followed after him, stopping just inside the door to look around. The walls were completely bare, the furniture draped with cloth, a layer of dust settled in over everything in the place. It didn't look like anyone had been inside for quite some time.

Avalina reappeared in the doorway of what appeared to be a guest room, resting her hand against the doorframe. "I'll go get groceries and cleaning supplies." She turned her attention to Jasmine. "Do you need anything else?"

* * *

Thane moved into the kitchen, opening a cabinet and pulling down a dust covered glass. Turning on the water, he let it run for a moment, clearing the pipes of any stagnant water. Looking beneath the sink, he found an old bottle of detergent, and after looking over the contents to make sure nothing unsavory grew inside, he squirted some on the glass. He washed the glass off, rubbing his thumb across the smooth surface beneath the stream coming from the faucet. Satisfied it was clean and all traces of the detergent removed, he filled it with cool water and returned to where Jasmine sat on the couch, the dust covering having been removed.

"Which bag is the halgraven in?" he asked, handing her the glass.

She pointed to one of her bags, and he opened it, shuffling around the contents until he found both the opened bottle of halgraven and her supplements. They'd been sure to stock up on the non-narcotic pain reliever before leaving Ferris Fields. As for the supplements, he would have to place an order for more and hope she didn't run out before they arrived; they both kept a bottle on hand, so it shouldn't be too big of an issue. He brought the bottles over to her, opening them before handing them over and letting her shake the dose out into her palm. Capping them when she handed them back, he returned them to her bag.

"Avalina interfered on Omega, coming to my aid against a handful of vorcha who saw me in my weakened state and mistook me for an easy target," he said, closing the bag and moving to sit next to her on the couch.

He considered simply sharing the memories with her, but it would be time consuming, and it'd offer no real information other than his own internal musings as he came to trust and care for the asari. Though, of course, he'd answer whatever questions she might have, share whatever pieces of him that she wished. He took the glass from her when she finished swallowing her pills, setting it on the table. Leaning back, he lifted his arm, and she nestled in against him.

"You're talking about the One-Hour Massacre on Omega, aren't you?" She pressed her palm against the bare scales above his vest and tilted her head back to meet his gaze.

"Indeed." He dipped his head. "A time I am not proud of, by any means."

She hummed, caressing his chest. "I don't blame you for reacting the way you did. I don't know if I'd have the mental strength to make myself keep going and get revenge, but I'd want to."

He gave her a smile, knowing it probably looked as sad as he felt at hearing those words from her mouth. He'd never want it for her, never want her to know the permanent marring of her soul. Lowering his face, he kissed her forehead, running his fingers through her hair. "I hope you never have to know what such a thing might give you the strength to do."

She sighed, tucking her head in against his chest. "So what happened after the vorcha?"

"After, I thanked Avalina and left, determined to get someplace safe where I could begin my search for a trace on Stiv Kay. She followed me, though. Told me I looked as if I were about to fall over at any moment, and then I really would be easy prey." He chuckled, recalling the more vibrant words Avalina used.

" _Sure, go ahead and pass out, just don't land with your ass up." She rolls her eyes at me, shakes her head. "Pretty face like yours, Goddess only knows what'll happen to you on Omega." Blue lips turn up in a smirk. She holds her hands up. "Unless you're into that sort of thing, no judgement here."_

"I argued with her, told her to leave me be, but she was right. I made it only another block before my exhaustion won out, and I nearly collapsed. Avalina was there, pulling me back to my feet and led me through Omega to a room she rented on the station." He stopped talking for a moment, remembering the fury he felt at his own weakness.

" _Idiot. Get up." Fingers slide under my arms. I try to knock them away. Try to rage against this stranger who dares insert herself where she isn't welcome. Who dares stand in the way of my claiming the life I am owed. But can't. I don't have the strength. She grunts, pulling me upright. "Come on, I've got a place you can sleep it off."_

Absently, he lowered his hand to trail his fingers over Jasmine's smooth skin along her arm. "I'd become delirious by the time we arrived, slipping in and out of memories." He'd unwittingly told Avalina about Irikah and his revenge, his need to find the last man, Stiv Kay, and kill him so Irikah might be put to rest. "I woke up some hours later, head clear, and pulled my biotics around me the second I realized I was in an unfamiliar location, being watched over by an asari."

Jasmine let out a soft snort. "I bet that went over well."

"Not as badly as you might imagine. She stood, leveling her unflinching gaze on me before opening her omni-tool. The events from the day before came back to me as I watched her approach. Without saying anything, she bent and waved her omni-tool over mine and then left the room."

"What was it?" Jasmine tilted her head back to glance at him again, curiosity in her eyes.

He smiled, leaning in to kiss her just because he could. "When I looked, I found a dossier on Stiv Kay. She'd found him for me while I slept."

"That was … nice of her," she said but lifted her eyebrow, making it more of a question.

"Indeed. I spent two days with her on Omega, regaining my strength, learning about her." He tilted his head a little. "When the time came for me to leave to go to the Citadel to track Stiv Kay, she offered to join me, insisting she no longer had any reason to stay on Omega herself."

"She didn't live on Omega?" Jasmine asked.

"She … went there to visit someone, attempted to convince them to leave, but they refused." As much as he wished to tell Jasmine whatever she wanted to know, he knew she'd understand his hesitancy to divulge information that wasn't his to share.

" _My daughter lives here, shaking her ass in Aria's bar. Goddess knows she's going to end up dead if she stays here, just another corpse to toss into the incinerators, but she's grown, I can't make her leave. As much as I want to." She sighs, turns away from me. "You remind me of her father." Bitterness mixes with sorrow in her voice. "Another damn drell who didn't know what was best, too foolish to not answer the door when trouble knocks."_

He cleared his throat. "I declined, but after I found Stiv Kay, after I killed him … I called Avalina. I can't say for certain why, I think I just needed to tell someone, anyone, I'd fulfilled my oath. Little did I realize she'd followed me to the Citadel despite my refusal, leaving on a ship just hours after I departed Omega."

"Sounds like she really likes you," she said, something … cautious, guarded in her voice. Then, she snorted softly and added, "Or, you insulted her and she wanted the chance to kick your ass."

Thane chuckled. "I think you may be confusing Avalina with yourself, siha."

She scoffed, a light, playful sound. "It's still going to happen. One of these days."

"I have no doubts." He grinned, stroking her hair.

"So, what happened next?" She hooked her fingers into the edge of his vest, tugging the leather down as she let her arm hang.

"I sat down next to Stiv Kay's body, waiting for C-Sec to arrive," he said, and she looked up at him with one brow drawn in low, the other arched, "but she found me first. She convinced me to leave with her, and together we traveled here to Lusia."

"How'd she convince you to leave?" she asked, her features smoothing back out.

"She reminded me that I held hanar secrets, regardless of whether or not I remained in the Compact. To allow myself to be captured would be to endanger the people I once swore to serve and protect with my life." He sighed. "Even with as lost and numb as I felt, I couldn't bring myself to dishonor the hanar who cared for me, raised me."

Jasmine hummed, pulling her hand free from his vest to take his hand in hers, running her thumb along his knuckles.

"I stayed with her for a few weeks, barely leaving the room she allowed me to live in, let alone the house." He sucked in a shuddering breath, remembering the utter desolation he felt after ending Stiv Kay, then the complete apathy which followed on its heels. "In time, she convinced me to go on with my life and stop waiting for death. I wasn't ready to take on contracts, though. So I bought this piece of land when the asari who lived here went to the sea. She had no relatives, so it sold in auction. I continued to live here for three months until I felt it was time to move on. Avalina checked in on me regularly, and when I felt ready to leave, she promised to keep watch over the cabin in case I ever needed to return."

* * *

Jasmine made her way out to the porch to sit in an old, hand-carved, wooden chair. It only took sneezing twice, the dull ache in her shoulder and side flaring into something sharper and more threatening, as she tried to help clean the cabin before she excused herself. Her omni-tool vibrated against her wrist no sooner than she sat down. Opening it, she recognized Rift's number and smiled.

She accepted the call, smile widening as soon as the boy's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, stranger. How's it going?"

He gave her an odd look. "Jasmine, it's me. Rift."

She snorted, "Yeah, I—"

His face broke into a shit-eating grin, and she realized she'd just been had by a kid.

"Alright, wiseguy." She gave him a shake of her head. "What's up?"

"Nothing." He pulled both shoulders up in a shrug. "Just haven't talked to you in awhile. Mouse said he thought you got shot, so I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"How the hell did Mouse know I got shot?" She arched an eyebrow.

Rift tilted his head toward his shoulder, lifting one side of his mouth up. "So you  _did_  get shot?"

"Yeah," she said with a frown, "but I'm alright. No big deal."

He looked as if he didn't believe her, face scrunched up, eyebrow raised. "Dad says it hurts really, really, really bad to be shot."

She snorted. "It does. But, a doctor patched me up, and I'm getting better."

"Will it leave a scar?" He opened his eyes a little wider, leaning in towards the camera.

"Yeah," she said with a nod.

"Cool," he said, earning him a laugh, to which he grinned.

The door opened, and Avalina stepped out. "You shouldn't—Oh, hello," she said, gaze zeroing in on Rift.

"Hello." He leaned back a little, blinking. "Who are you?"

Jasmine snorted, shaking her head. "Manners. I know your mother's taught you a few by now."

He scrunched up his nose. "Sorry."

Avalina laughed, the sound light and airy, before moving to squat down next to Jasmine, resting her elbow on the arm of Jasmine's chair. "It's quite alright. I don't mind. My name is Avalina, and what might yours be?"

He smiled leaning back in towards the camera. "Rift. Are you Jasmine's friend?"

Avalina glanced at Jasmine before turning her attention back to the omni-tool. "Well, we've only just met, but I hope to be."

_Hmm._

"She's a friend of Thane's," Jasmine offered.

"Sere Krios?" he asked, and then when she nodded, he added, "Is he there, too?"

Avalina raised a brow, glancing at Jasmine.

"I met Rift through Thane … sorta. More like he hired Rift to pump me for information. It's a long story."

Avalina's lips spread into a slow smile. "Fair enough." She glanced back at Rift. "He is here, would you like for me to go get him for you?"

Rift nodded, smile growing. "Yeah!"

Avalina chuckled, pushing herself back up to her full height and disappeared inside the cabin once more. Jasmine turned back to the screen in time to see Jessica, the oldest of the Williams girls, plop down on Rift's bed next to him, stretching out to prop her elbow on his back, resting her hand in her palm. She laughed as Rift squirmed, trying to buck her off of him, but he eventually gave in with a dramatic sigh.

"Hi, Jessica." She smiled, taking in the teenager's face.

_Shit, she's almost eighteen._

"Hey, Jasmine." Jessica grinned, digging the fingers of her free hand into Rift's side, making him squeal and squirm. She arched an eyebrow. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jasmine smirked. "I'm just thinking I can't believe you're almost eighteen. And … you really look a lot like your dad."

"Uh!" Jessica sneered, pulling the corner of her lip in towards her nose.

Jasmine chuckled. "Aw, come on, your dad's a good looking guy."

"Ew. Stop being gross." Jessica rolled her eyes.

The door opened, Thane stepping outside while Avalina lingered in the doorway, watching the land around the cabin. Jasmine knew the moment Jessica registered his presence, her eyes widening as she looked him over head to toe, lips shifting into an almost seductive smile. Jasmine cleared her throat a little, drawing Jessica's attention back to her, and lifted her eyebrow, offering the girl a playful challenge. He'd taken his jacket off to clean, highlighting his well defined chest and bare arms. He really was a sight, and she didn't think he had half a clue as to how sexy he truly looked.

"Sere Krios!" Rift grinned, managing to wriggle out from beneath his sister to sit up on the bed, and a moment later, Jessica sat up next to him, hand smoothing down her hair.

"Hello, Rift," Thane said, perching on the arm of Jasmine's chair.

Jessica elbowed Rift in the ribs, just hard enough to get his attention. "Introduce me," she whispered, but her voice carried over the connection plainly.

Jasmine snorted, rolling her eyes. "Thane, this is Jessica. Rift's oldest sister. She's  _almost_ eighteen."

Jessica shot Jasmine a withering glare before turning her attention back to Thane, flashing him a rather charming smile. "Hi!"

Thane dipped his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jessica."

Smirking, Jasmine leaned over and draped her arm over Thane's bent knee. He glanced at her, grinned, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Rift's eyes widened, gaze shifting back and forth between the two of them.

Jessica lifted an eyebrow. "So, what, are you two a thing?"

"Yep," Jasmine said, drawing the word out, making her lips pop at the end.

"Ugh. I hate you." Jessica rolled her eyes but smiled at Jasmine when she met Jasmine's gaze again.

Rift crinkled his nose. "I knew you two were gonna start kissing."

Thane chuckled. "Indeed."

"Where'd Avalina go? Is she coming back?" Rift asked, apparently already over the announcement.

"I'm here," Avalina said, stepping back out the door to where Rift could see her.

"Do you know Mila, too?"

Avalina glanced at Jasmine, the question clear in her eyes.

"Mila's a very young asari who lives on the Citadel." Jasmine avoided mentioning Mila was a duct-rat. She knew asari didn't take well to the idea of their youth being homeless, and often times would go to great lengths to bring them back into the fold, whether or not the asari in question wanted to rejoin their ranks. That, and, she really just didn't have much of a reason to trust Avalina other than Thane said he did. It was mostly good enough for her, but not enough for her to really offer more than the commando needed to know.

"I see," Avalina said, her gaze shifting to scan the yard before returning to Rift. "No, I don't believe I've met Mila."

"Oh." Rift glanced at Jessica. "This is my sister, Jessica."

Jessica lifted a hand, far less enthusiastic about meeting the asari than she was Thane. "Hey."

Avalina smiled. "Hello, Jessica."

Turning her attention to Thane, Avalina said, "It will be dark soon. The  _niathik_ still hunt these areas."

"What's a  _niathik_?" Rift asked, which saved Jasmine from having to ask herself.

"A predatory creature, known to hunt in packs. I believe you would consider them to be similar to the wolves of Earth," Thane said.

"There aren't many wolves left on Earth." Jessica frowned. "They're on the endangered species list.  _Again_. My senior class ran a drive last month to help raise funds for endangered species, and wolves were in the top thirty."

"How unfortunate." Thane's fingers tightened a little against Jasmine's arm as they spoke of the  _niathik_  and wolves, apparently  _niathik_ were something he felt the need to protect her from. "I've never had the opportunity to see a wolf outside of the occasional nature show or book." He looked down at her, voice soft when he said, "We should go back inside, siha. I believe the air has cleared enough for your comfort."

No sooner than the words left his mouth, did Jasmine hear a low, grating growl from somewhere off to their left. Avalina flared, incredibly strong biotics twisting and writhing around her as she turned to face the woods.

"Time for me to go, guys. Love you." Jasmine stood with Thane's help.

"Stay safe, Jasmine," Jessica said, a seriousness beyond her years sweeping over her eyes. "We love you, too."

"Bye," Rift said, and then the call went black.


	25. Prognosis Poor

**Prognosis Poor**

Jasmine suppressed a groan and rolled over again, the howls of the  _niathik_ seeming to echo off the mountains in the distance. She wasn't particularly frightened of the animals—they were outside, and she was safe inside—but Jesus Christ did they ever  _shut up_? After two nights of listening to the damn things, she kinda wanted to grab her sniper rifle and climb up on the roof. It didn't help she couldn't stop worrying about Isaac, and she supposed Raúl, too. Thane stirred next to her, turning over to press his chest against her back and wrapped his arm around her, brushing his lips over her head.

"Are you in pain, siha?" he asked, voice soft next to her ear.

"No." She put her arm on top of his, tugging his hand up under her chin, tucking it in with hers. "Just can't sleep."

"You're concerned for Isaac." His words weren't a question so much as an acknowledgement.

"I just don't understand why he won't even let me send him a message until he reaches out to me." She sucked in a deep breath, blowing it out hard in her irritation. "I never should've said anything about Cerberus to him."

He nuzzled in against the nape of her neck, pushing the hair aside with his face to kiss her skin, his warmth and soft touch helping to soothe the beast within. "I'm glad you chose to share your burden with him."

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow, turning her head toward him despite not being able to see him. She figured he'd think it was a bad idea, one risking her ending up in prison, indefinitely separated from him again. Thank God it didn't go that way, she didn't think she could handle it. The few months she spent in a cell, isolated, completely cut off from everyone she knew and loved …. It took her to some dark places a few times, places that made her understand her mother a little better, and the only thing that kept her going was knowing they didn't have any reason to keep her forever, and then she'd get to see Thane again.

"Because … it troubled you, and I was not able to be of more assistance. It seems as if your trust is well placed in him, and I believe him to be more than capable of ensuring his own safety." Thane let out a soft hum. "I confess, I have another reason for choosing Lusia, for coming to Avalina."

"What's that?" Jasmine asked. Initially, she'd wondered if they once had a more intimate relationship, but after a day of watching them together, her doubts were easily set aside. Not that she would've faulted Thane for having past relationships, it just would've made things a little more awkward. As it was, she couldn't get a good read on Avalina, and the asari was staying with them at the cabin for the time being.

"Avalina has skills which may be of use in gathering information on Cerberus and the Alliance, should you choose to confide in her." He pulled his hand free when she loosened her grip and used it to push hair back behind her ear, tracing the line of her jaw. "It is your choice, of course, and I'm sure you'll wish to speak with Isaac first, but she is more than capable of hacking into military grade networks. It was a specialty of hers when she served as a huntress. She is also quite the skilled fighter, and as you saw, her biotics are substantial."

Jasmine thought about it for a moment. She already worried about Cerberus going after Theodus next, and the longer she went without hearing from Isaac, the more dread writhed in the pit of her stomach. Did she really want to involve someone else in on all of it? Avalina was already in danger being with them if Cerberus  _did_  show up, but at least she didn't have a target painted on her back. "You trust her enough for this?"

"I do." He stroked his hand down the back of her head, each pass of his hand relaxing tense muscles a little more. "I trust her more than I've been able to trust anyone over the years since Irikah's death, until I met you."

Her brow twitched, the weight of such a claim settling in around her shoulders like a warm blanket. "Because of what she did for you on Omega and finding Stiv Kay?"

"No, not exactly." He wrapped his arm back around her, hand settling on her forearm, stroking his thumb back and forth.

She hummed, sorting through what information he'd given her on Avalina and what she picked up just from watching him with the asari. There was definitely something more there, though, even if it wasn't romantic; something bigger, beyond what she already knew. It spiked her curiosity and set her mental wheels spinning, potential scenarios piecing themselves together in her mind.

After a few seconds, Thane added, "For what I've done for her since. Perhaps she'll allow me to share her story with you, if I ask."

She wouldn't push, not on that at least. She understood all too well the need to hold other's secrets. "What did she mean by her 'requirements' the day we arrived?"

He stayed quiet for a long moment, the rhythm of his movements against her arm slowing to a standstill. "If what I ask of her requires her to take a life, she will do so without hesitation, but in return, I must save the life of another."

Jasmine considered it for a second, trying to ferret out what was so bad about the trade off. It seemed to be a standing arrangement, so he didn't mean a particular someone's life. She knew he didn't have any problem involving himself to save someone being attacked, it was how he got himself stabbed on the Citadel. Did Avalina have a list of people needing rescued or something? Is that how she spent her time, going around saving people, being all heroic?

She gave herself a mental shrug to push her musings aside and said, "Sounds like a good thing to me."

"By refusing the next contract offered to me," he said, voice dry. "Regardless of the specifics."

"Oh." She mulled it over for a minute, making him turn down a contract was a completely different story, one that didn't sit well with Jasmine. "If I ask for her help with Cerberus, is she going to expect me to refuse the next job I'm up for … because I can't do that, not unless I'm calling it quits on the Alliance. And … I don't know if I'm ready to give up on the Alliance, despite this shit with Project Evolution."

"No, siha." He kissed the back of her head. "You won't be expected to do anything. Any payment, whatever the manner she requires, I will take care of."

She huffed, rolling her eyes. "You can't keep doing that."

"What?"

"Trying to pay for everything for me." She lifted her hand, letting it flop back down against the mattress.

"Why? I'm more than able." He shifted, pulling himself up a little higher on the bed, and rubbed his cheek against the side of her head. "Whatever I have is yours, siha."

She opened her mouth to offer a snarky retort, but closed it again, making herself take a second to think through what she really felt and why. "It makes me feel like you don't think I can take care of it myself."

"Not at all," he said, surprise evident in his voice. "It simply pleases me to be able to do things for you, but if it offends you …."

She sighed, feeling a little like an ass despite herself. "Sometimes. A little."

"My apologies, it's not my intent." He sounded almost sad, and she suspected it stemmed from his past, the times he talked about working crap jobs and struggling to provide for his family. It probably meant a lot to him to be  _able_  to help take care of her, and there she was telling him not to.

She rolled over to her back so she could look up at him, silhouetted against the deep shadows filling the room. "I'm just … I'm not used to it, I guess. You're so—you're just so damn  _good_  to me." Pressing her hand against his cheek, she felt him smiling. "I love you, Thane."

"And I you, Jasmine." He leaned in, mouth finding hers.

* * *

She sat out on the porch, finding she rather liked the old, wooden chairs and the rustic scenery. Night approached, but Avalina hadn't come out yet to chase Jasmine back inside, so she sat there, sipping the bittersweet  _bla'ada_ tea Avalina made for her—claiming it would help her heal faster.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and Avalina stepped outside, carrying her own cup of  _bla'ada_. She smiled at Jasmine and took a seat in the chair next to her. After a few quiet moments, Avalina said, "I didn't think it'd be possible for him to fall in love again."

Jasmine glanced at the asari before turning her attention back out over the clearing the cabin was nestled in, watching two, small, furry creatures battle it out over an insect hive of some sorts at the base of a tree; apparently, the bugs were a delicacy worth fighting for. "Why's that?"

She knew why. Even if she didn't know Thane back then, she knew how devastated he'd been over Irikah's death, and listening to him talk, even just a little, about hunting down the men responsible told her all she really needed to know. She was lucky as fuck to win Thane's heart after the shit he'd gone through. But still, she wanted to hear Avalina's response. She was still feeling the other woman out, deciding on whether or not she wanted to drag Avalina into the mess—if Isaac gave her the greenlight.

Avalina chuckled, drawing Jasmine's attention back to her. "I think you know perfectly well why. There's more to you than meets the eye, Jasmine. Such a pretty name, fitting for such a beautiful, young woman. Your mother must be proud."

Cold washed over Jasmine, making her fight the urge to wrap her arms around herself. She took a sip of her tea, tasting far more bitter than sweet all of the sudden. "My mother's dead."

"I see. I didn't know, I'm sorry to hear this." Avalina sat her cup down on the arm of her chair. "You humans have such short lifespans … but surely she couldn't have been so old with a daughter so young."

Turning to look at the asari, Jasmine narrowed her eyes, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling, standing on end. "What are you after, Avalina?"

Avalina blinked and smiled, her annoying, ancient, asari wisdom showing through. Jasmine didn't know Avalina's actual age, but she figured the asari to be well into her matron years. There was just something about the way asari moved once they had children, a way they held themselves, a look in their eyes … and the goddamn smile they gave everyone belonging to a species with a shorter lifespan. As if every alien they met was a child, bumbling through life.

"I'd hoped we could be friends." Avalina picked her cup up again, taking a sip, her gaze never leaving Jasmine.

"And you think the way to make friends is to point out that my mother was too young to die when she did? If you want to know how she died, why don't you just ask?" Jasmine arched an eyebrow, some distant part of her mind warning her she was overreacting and lashing out at someone who really didn't deserve her ire. But it didn't stop her. "She committed suicide. When I was eleven. My father died about a year later, in a plane crash, but it didn't matter a whole lot because I hadn't heard one word from him since about a month before Mom killed herself. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

Slowly, Avalina set her cup back down, lowering her gaze. "I have offended you."

"Yeah, well, get in line." Jasmine huffed, turning her attention back out at the woods. "Seems like everyone offends me these days."

"And why is that, I wonder?" Avalina asked, her tone curious but not really intrusive.

Jasmine snorted, bringing her cup to her lips. "Probably because being shot makes me bitchy." She took a swallow of tea, setting the cup down on the arm of her chair.

_And I'm hormonal, but you wouldn't understand._

Avalina laughed, and Jasmine glanced at her again, a slight smile lifting the corners of her mouth. The asari turned, pushing her back against the corner of the chair, angling her body towards Jasmine as she crossed her long legs. "It is a rather unpleasant experience, but I doubt that's all there is to it."

Jasmine shrugged, turning her cup back and forth on the arm of the chair. "There's plenty more to it, but I'm not exactly at liberty to discuss it with you. No offense."

"None taken." Avalina waved a hand before settling it down on her thigh. "What has Thane told you of me?"

"Not much." Jasmine sighed, shifting in her chair a little to keep the asari in her peripherals while she watched the creatures, having ceased their battle to instead feast together on the beatles within the nest. Pity. She'd been rooting for the smaller one, imagining it as herself and the larger one as Leon.

_Asshole._

Avalina tilted her head. "Such as?"

Jasmine shrugged again. "Just that you dragged his ass out of trouble on Omega, helped him find Stiv Kay, and then convinced him to come here instead of letting himself be taken in by C-Sec."

"That's all?" Avalina arched her brow when Jasmine looked at her.

"No." Jasmine picked up her cup, turning in her chair to face Avalina. She wasn't really up for the tête-à-tête Avalina seemed so dead set on, but why the hell not? She might as well give the asari some food for thought. "He also said you were on Omega because you were visiting someone, trying to convince them to leave. I figure they're probably a relative, likely your daughter, but it's not really my business." She caught the tick of Avalina's head, letting her know she hit her mark dead on. "You're a huntress, or at least you were. He didn't say why you left. My credits are on it having something to do with  _whoever_  you were trying to get to leave Omega."

They watched each other in silence for a moment. Assessing each other. Jasmine knew Avalina tested her, and she knew Avalina was aware of Jasmine taking her measure, too.

Jasmine arched an eyebrow. "Or maybe they asked you to do something you didn't like. You're still in your matron years, so I doubt it's anything as simple as retirement. He said you're good at hacking into military servers, it was a part of your job." She waved a hand. "Oh, and the two of you have some agreement where if you kill for him, he has to turn down his next contract. Which is weird, and kinda crappy, but whatever."

"You seem well informed on asari," Avalina said, raising both brows, making the blue markings just below the base of her crest wrinkle into waves.

Jasmine gave her a coy smile, savoring the look of surprise on Avalina's face. "You're not the first asari to tell me I'm beautiful."

Avalina laughed again, the sound helping to win Jasmine over despite her crabby mood. "I like you, Jasmine. You're fun. Not at all what I would've expected Thane to be drawn to, but I suppose it makes a particular sort of sense."

"How's that?" Jasmine sipped her tea, watching the asari with curiosity.

"You're vibrant, full of life and fire." Avalina gave Jasmine a sad sort of smile and shook her head. "And he spent a very long time surrounding himself with nothing but death and darkness."

Jasmine nodded, taking it in for a moment. It didn't come as news to her; when she met Thane, he was broody and reclusive, but once she learned of his history, she understood why. "You would've liked me better back when he and I first met, then. I'm not feeling so very full of life and fire lately. But there's been a lot of shit going on, a lot beating me down." She glanced around the woods again, dusk settling in around them. "I'm surprised you haven't warned me to go back inside yet."

"Why?" Avalina smirked, lifting her brow again. "You've been warned twice, you choose to keep coming out here while the sun is setting. Young as you are, you are not a child … not my child."

Jasmine smiled, softening a little more towards Avalina at what seemed like an acknowledgement she had children of her own. Pulling her leg up to rest the sole of her foot on the edge of the chair despite the twinge of pain it created in her still healing side, she asked, "She still on Omega?"

"No." Avalina took a deep breath, turning her attention to the woods. Her voice carried a soft, sorrowful tone when she said, "Omega snuffed out her fire completely, she has gone to the sea to be with her father."

"I'm sorry," Jasmine said, letting the silence sit as she mulled over Avalina's word choice. "Not in the embrace of the Goddess, but gone to the sea … her father was drell?"

"He was." Avalina met her gaze again, something sad and painful coloring her eyes a darker shade of gray. "Tarava chose to follow her father's religion, and I honor her choice." She watched Jasmine for long, quiet seconds, her lips parted as if she struggled with something she wanted to say. "Thane asked if he might share with you something from our past. He believes it will help you to learn to trust me, and he indicated there's something you may need my assistance with, but you aren't likely to ask until you feel you can rely on me to hold your secrets and serve your best interests."

Jasmine didn't say anything, just pulled her arms down between her knee and her side.

"I will help you, if you ask, if it's within my means to do so, because he loves you. And as I said, I like you, and I hope we can be friends. I have so few anymore. But there are things in my past, my own moments of darkness and death, which I do not particularly care to relive or to share with others. I hope you can understand this and know it isn't a reflection on you."

"Yeah," Jasmine said after a moment, after all, she had her own moments of darkness and death. "I understand."

* * *

Thane watched them talk from the window in the kitchen, their voices muffled, but loud enough for him to make out. He smiled, pleased to see the two of them getting along. He never felt especially close to Avalina, despite the asari's best efforts—he simply didn't allow himself to grow close to others after Irikah's death; not until Jasmine—but he did trust her. He knew her well, even cared about her, he realized. She knew him better than his other contacts as well, though it hadn't necessarily been his intentions. Either way, all of the little ways his life and Jasmine's were intertwining, even if under less than ideal circumstances, brought him joy.

Turning back to his meal preparations, he lost himself in thought, his mind turning to the things he'd found in Sahnira's apartment. Perhaps he should reach out to Dr. Solus, ask if the salarian notified anyone with authority on the situation. He should reach out to Theodus, too. He knew Theodus well enough to realize the specialist's silence on the topic wasn't indicative of a lack of discovery, but neither did it mean he'd found anything of worth, either. Thane hadn't given him a timeframe to complete his research, and Theodus wouldn't contact Thane until he'd finished—or found something especially important. Despite knowing it wasn't his responsibility to look into the matter, the entire contract disturbed Thane enough he found it difficult to put it behind him and simply walk away.

_Corlina reaches up, rubs her temple. She seems confused, conflicted. "I … I don't know how to describe them. They were enormous, and frightening … and beautiful."_

The greatest mystery yet. What were the things Sahnira showed Corlina? Enormous, frightening, and beautiful, she'd said. Was it perhaps the orb used to indoctrinate Sahnira, as the matriarch implied? No, it didn't seem to carry the ring of truth. There was something else there, something he didn't yet know, and the possibilities frightened him.

The door opened, and he turned his head to look over his shoulder, smiling as Jasmine and Avalina came inside. Jasmine moved with greater ease, he noticed. It'd still be at least a couple of weeks before she'd be healed enough to return to her work, but he suspected Isaac would wait even longer.

She came to him, setting her empty cup down on the counter before slipping her arm around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder as she looked into the pots and pans on the stove. "Smells really good. I'm starving."

He chuckled. "It's almost done." Shifting, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, a soft, approving hum moving through him as she brushed her hand over the scales of his chest above his vest. "Do you feel like setting the table?"

"Sure." She pushed up on her toes and kissed him before retreating, moving to the cabinets to gather dishes.

Once dinner was ready, they gathered together around the table, enjoying their meal with quiet conversation. Thane tried to stay engaged, but his thoughts kept slipping back to Sahnira and the collectors. Jasmine didn't seem to mind, although he felt certain she'd noticed his distraction. She reached over on occasion, settling her hand down on his knee as she talked to Avalina about Tarava and life on Lusia. When they finished eating, Avalina offered to clear the table and do the dishes.

"Thank you," Thane said, pushing his chair back from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I have a call I need to make in private."

Avalina glanced over her shoulder at him, brow twitching but shrugged. "I'm going to retire to my room when I'm done in here, but I'll be awake for awhile longer if either of you need me."

He dipped his head to her, once again glad she'd agreed to stay at the cabin while they were on Lusia. He regretted the need, undoubtedly she'd rather be in her own home, but she didn't seem to mind too much. He turned to look down at Jasmine, who watched him with curiosity in her eyes.

Leaning down, he kissed her before whispering, "I want to speak with Dr. Solus."

Understanding flashed through her eyes, and her features relaxed as she nodded. "I think I'm going to take my laptop out back. I doubt the  _niathik_ will be too interested in trying to force their way through the traps Avalina set out there to rip through the shutters …" She grinned, pulling him back to her for another kiss. "… but I'll take my gun just in case."

He smiled, brushing his thumb over her cheek as he straightened. "I'll come sit with you when I've finished."

She nodded, slapping his rear when he turned to walk away, making him laugh. He made his way to the master bedroom and closed the door behind him, settling in at the small desk built into the far wall. He opened his laptop and entered Dr. Solus' contact information.

The salarian answered right away, blinking his large, dark eyes twice before looking away. "Ah. Expected you might call. Nearly finished with subjects, all believed to be safe to release into general population except Corlina. No traces of contagion biological or chemical in nature detected. However, behavior clearly suggests instability. Defiant when asked to give account of interactions with Sahnira. Refused to describe images mentioned to you. Scans reveal increased activity in auditory cortex, visual cortex, orbital cortex, caudate nucleus, cingulate gyrus, and thalamus."

"I don't know what that means," Thane said when the doctor paused to take a breath.

Dr. Solus looked at him and blinked again before turning his attention back to something else on his desk. "Auditory and visual hallucinations, obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Medications intended to treat symptoms show no improvement. Subject likely remains danger to self and others. Unethical to release her. Will continue to run tests. Prognosis poor. Probability of institutionalization high."

"I see." Thane took a deep breath, acknowledging the sense of disappointment sweeping through him and let it go. "And the information I sent you from Sahnira's laptop?"

"Reviewed and sent to contacts in STG along with account of preceding events leading to discovery and current situation on Omega. Sahnira unnamed, assassin responsible unnamed. STG team on Omega now, investigating. Agreed you're irrelevant. Displeased by refusal to release Sahnira's body to STG, but provided with all data gathered and brain tissue samples."

Thane lifted his brow ridges. "Sahnira's body … she's still with you?" He'd expected the doctor to take her corpse to the incinerators after he'd gathered whatever information he needed.

"In cold storage. Tests completed. Can have her sent somewhere or cremated here." Dr. Solus tilted his head a little, bringing a datapad into view to stare at for a second before setting it aside again. "No oceans on Omega. No soil for burial, either."

The news stunned Thane. He realized he'd never actually taken the time to consider what might happen to a body once he completed his contract. Of course he realized his targets would eventually be found, and loved ones would mourn their passing, but he never considered how many corpses might be left for days or weeks at a time in a morgue, waiting for someone to claim them. "I—I'll need to make a call to see if there is anyone to request her remains."

Dr. Solus looked up again, and blinked. "Family on Kahje. Haven't contacted them. Assumed you would."

It worried Thane to think the doctor might have learned of Sahnira's connection to Alahana, but then he realized Dr. Solus must mean Sahnira's other relatives, her mother and father. "Why?"

"Indicated respect for target, wish to honor remains." Dr. Solus waved a hand dismissively. "Suspected a familiarity."

Thane lowered his gaze, a little unnerved by the salarian. "I see. Was there anything of use in the files found at 'the barn?'"

"Interesting studies on left-handed salarians and batarian monozygotic twins." Dr. Solus glanced up again. "Extensive logs, videos of living vivisections. Conclusions drawn nothing but conjecture."

"What are your thoughts?" Thane raised his brow ridge, mildly annoyed the salarian simply didn't tell him whatever conclusions he'd drawn from the insanity.

"Collectors interested in studying unique characteristics of variety of species, suggests intent to isolate nature of characteristics." Dr. Solus turned to face Thane more squarely, waving a hand as he spoke. "Many possible reasons: genetic manipulation of collectors, same for other species, biological weapons design, possibly looking for compatible traits for reproductive purposes—nature of collector reproduction unknown."

Thane blinked, thought processes taking a moment to catch up to the salarian's rapid-fire speech. "Is there anything definitive you can tell me, Doctor?"

Dr. Solus sucked in a deep breath, sitting up a little straighter as he did so. "Yes. You saved many lives." He punctuated his statement with a curt nod. "Also, left lung responding better to treatment than right lung. Suggest adding citexprin to next round of treatments. Can forward findings and medical recommendations to physician of choice."

Thane chuckled, despite himself. The salarian amused him, even if Dr. Solus left him reeling. "Ah. Thank you, I'll take it under advisement."

Dr. Solus smiled and blinked. "Happy to help."

"I'll let you know what Sahnira's family would like to do with her body," Thane said.

"Good." Dr. Solus gave him another curt nod. "Should get back to work. Tests to run."

"Of course." Thane dipped his head, and the doctor smiled again before the screen went black.

* * *

Jasmine closed her laptop, the call she'd made to Theodus leaving her feeling drained completely empty. It relieved her to know he was safe, Cerberus hadn't come after him—yet. But he refused to help her torture herself by giving her the gory details of the shit he found on Leon's accounts. He did, at least, tell her the pictures he saw weren't 'distasteful', though 'distasteful' might mean something entirely different for him than it did for her. Goddamn Leon.

The door opened and Thane stepped out onto the covered porch, carrying two, steaming mugs. He smiled at her, handing her a mug before taking a seat in the other chair. "Siha?" His tone carried concern, and she turned to look at him, offering him a reassuring smile.

"I just called Theodus. Wanted to check on him." She lifted the mug of  _bla'ada_  and blew over the top before taking a sip. "Everything's good on his end."

He raised his brow ridges, sipping his tea. "Did he say something to upset you?"

She shook her head, grounding herself in his tranquil, calming presence. "No. I upset myself." Huffing, she brushed stay pieces of hair back out of her face. She hated to admit she'd given in to her self-loathing and tried to get Theodus to give her even more cannon fodder, but she figured if anyone understood self-loathing, it was Thane. "I tried to get him to give me more details on the things he found on Leon's accounts … the pictures and letters. He wouldn't, though. Seemed disturbed I even asked." She smirked, letting out a short laugh. "He did offer to smear Leon's name for me, though. Free of charge."

Thane chuckled, reaching over the small table wedged between the chairs to run his fingers along her jaw. "He must be quite fond of you. Theodus does nothing for free."

She smiled, shifting her cup to her other hand to take a hold of his outstretched fingers, kissing the tips of them before lowering their joined hands to the arm of her chair, rubbing her thumb along his knuckles. "What did Dr. Solus have to say?"

He took a deep breath. "Corlina remains unstable, and he thinks she's going to require institutionalization. There is no indication of anything contagious, however. The captives have all been cleared of any issues and will be allowed to return to their homes. He's involved STG, as I'd hoped, and they're on Omega investigating. He's holding my target's body to be shipped back to Kahje, I've contacted her family, and they are making arrangements." He smiled, squeezing her hand. "And, apparently, my left lung is responding to treatments better than the right. He's offered to send my doctors a report, including his recommendations for additional medications."

She didn't like the idea of any part of his treatment doing anything less than its full potential. "Are you going to have him do that?"

He hesitated, tilting his head a little. "I—I haven't decided yet."

Pursing her lips, she fought back an exasperated sigh. "You seemed pretty confident he's a good doctor, right?"

"Indeed," Thane said, nodding.

"So, why not?" she asked, arching her eyebrows.

He let out a soft chuckle and shifted his hand in hers a little. "I suppose it just seems unwise, considering how I met him and what he knows about me."

"So … tell him to send you the report instead." She shrugged, thinking the solution to be an obvious one. "Then, have your doctors verify whatever it says."

"That sounds fair." He squeezed her hand again, turning his sexy as hell smile on her. "Thank you, siha."

"For what?"

He leaned over, lifting her hand to his mouth to kiss her knuckles. "For being a voice of reason when my own fails me."

She snorted, giving him a slow, exaggerated shake of her head. "Oh, you beautiful, sweet, sweet man. If you're using me as your voice of reason, you're doomed."

He laughed and kissed her hand again before sitting back. "I was doomed before I met you, but you have truly saved me, breathed new life into me." He met and held her gaze, voice softening. "I love you, Jasmine. With all that I am."

"I love you, too." She grinned. "And your sense of the dramatic."

He chuckled, squeezing her fingers. "It is the truth, though, siha."

"I know, and I feel the same way." She returned his squeeze, holding the pressure a little longer, trying to convey with her touch what she sucked so much at putting into words. "I hope you know that. I'm just not as poetic."

"I do," he said, and then smirked, "and I continue to love you despite your lack of poetry."

She snorted, grinning at him. "Good."


	26. Place of Bliss

**Place of Bliss**

They'd been on Lusia for nearly a week, and in that time, she still hadn't heard from Isaac. She hurt less and less each day, but with nothing else to keep her busy, her days were occupied primarily with worrying over her handler. The nights weren't really much better. She didn't know how long she should wait before she ignored his orders and reached out to him; a week really wasn't all too long. He said he wanted to make sure Raúl was set up somewhere safe, but he never said how long he thought it might take.

Thane rolled over to his side, shifting on the bed until he was close enough to press his lips against her temple and brush hair back behind her ear. She smiled, turning her head a little to nuzzle against him. Pushing himself up on an elbow, he leaned over and kissed her, just barely touching his lips to hers.

"Are you having trouble sleeping, siha?" He slipped his hand under her shirt, thumb sweeping across her belly button, giving her goosebumps.

She let out a soft sigh, his touch quieting the storm brewing in her mind. "A little."

Closing her eyes, she hummed as she savored his fingers brushing against her stomach, leaving little, hot trails in their wake. Something so simple shouldn't feel so arousing, but it did. It made all of her nerves stand on end, body begging for more. Christ, she wanted him.

Blindly, she lifted her right hand, reaching for him, and he pressed his face against her palm. She smiled, stroking her thumb back and forth along the ridges of his cheek, the division between smooth scale and frills. She loved that part, loved all of his parts. His hand left her stomach, fingers curling under her chin to tilt her head toward him. She opened her mouth to him when he kissed her, tongue flicking over his warm, full lips. He deepened the kiss, and she moved her hand around to thread her fingers through his crest, pulling him in closer.

He brought his hand back to her stomach, palm pressed flat against her skin before sliding over to her left side, kneading her hip and waist. As if some invisible line connected the two points, it sent a rush of heat right between her legs. She reached down, covering his hand with hers and eased it up, tucking his hand the rest of the way beneath her tank top to settle down on her breast. Heart fluttering from even such a tiny amount of contact, her nipple hardened against his palm. He froze, tongue stilling in her mouth before starting to retreat, but she chased after him. A hungry, pleading moan catching in her throat as she lifted her head from the pillow, keeping her lips locked against his. She didn't want him to overthink it, she just wanted to  _feel_ him.

He let out a soft croak of a sound filled with some strange mix of confusion and desire, and it sent a shiver down her spine. She slipped her hand away from his crest to run her fingers over his frills, finding them engorged, each ridge standing out against her fingertips as she stroked them, coaxing a moan from him. Tentatively, he brushed his thumb over her nipple, sending waves of need crashing through her. Muscles tightening in her back and shoulders, she arched, lifting herself into his hand, urging him on.

He gave her a gentle squeeze, still far too hesitant and gentle to satisfy her body's cravings, so she pulled her lips away from his to drag her tongue over his frills, hitting his weak spot as she nipped at his throat. He sucked in a shuddering breath, throat vibrating against her teeth in a groan as he shifted his hand up to cup her breast more fully. His fingers closed around her nipple, pinching and twisting with the perfect amount of pressure, tearing a whimper from her and leaving her trembling as electricity rushed through her from the delicious touch. He knew her body so well, exactly where to touch, where to kiss and lick, nip and pinch, pull and scratch to drive her mad with want.

"I don't know if we should …." His voice cracked, words trailing off as she scraped her teeth over his frills.

Kneading at his scales, she pulled him down a little closer and brought her mouth to his ear, whispering, "Make love to me."

"Siha … you're still healing," he said, but his magical fingers kept moving, tugging and squeezing.

Hormone-fueled haze filling her head, she didn't realize how demanding her voice might sound until the words left her mouth again, " _Make love to me_." Sucking in a slow, deep breath, she tried to reign herself in a little as she threaded her fingers through his crest, sliding them back and forth between the ridges. "I miss having you inside of me, Thane. Let me feel you."

He didn't say anything for a moment, but she felt his resolve wavering, his kneading becoming hungrier. Her breath caught in her throat, and she held it there, hips squirming, thighs squeezing against the swollen, wet spot between her legs. She let her pent up breath seep past her lips, carrying a low, pleading groan through her throat on the way out.

Finally, he turned, resting his forehead against hers. "I  _want_  to make love to you.  _Desperately_. But I'm afraid it'll hurt you."

She licked her lips, mouth and throat feeling dry, sliding her hand down to brush her thumb over his cheek. "We'll be careful. Take it slow," she said, keeping her voice low, doing her best to pour in as much confidence as possible, hoping to reassure him. She nudged his head, tilting her mouth up to him and brushed her lips against his. "I can lay on my side, I'll be fine. I promise."

"On your side?" He sounded confused, but also hopeful.

"Yeah," she whispered, kissing him again, tugging at his lip with her teeth. "Trust me, it'll work."

He let out a soft sigh, and she grinned, knowing she'd won. Tongue pushing its way into her mouth, he shoved her tank top up the rest of the way, exposing both breasts to the air. He shifted a little, pulling his mouth away from hers and lowered his face to her breast, tongue leaving a hot, wet trail over her nipple, lighting her on fire and tearing a jagged moan from her throat. He echoed her with his own moan, twisting to pull his knees up under him, perching over her as he moved his mouth back and forth between her breasts.

She slid her hand down, running it over his shoulder and back, losing herself in the feel of his mouth on her skin and his scales beneath her fingers, every point of contact as bright as a beacon in her mind. He moved down, trailing his tongue over her abdomen, stopping to kiss the fresh scars on her right, tracing them with his fingers before slipping his hands into the waistband of her panties. Steeling herself for the ache in her still-healing muscles, she lifted her hips, letting him slide her panties down. He tugged them over her thighs as she lowered herself to the mattress, bending her knees to help as he pulled them free. Moving between her legs, he kneeled before her, making her ache with anticipation as he tossed her panties aside. Too little light shone in their room for her to see his eyes, yet she felt his gaze on her, taking her in,  _worshiping_  her.

He lowered himself, sliding his arms under her legs to grip her hips as he kissed the inside of her thighs. Whimpering when his warm breath washed over her, heightening her sensitivity, her muscles twitched beneath his fingers. Then, his mouth found her, tongue so hot and wet and absolutely amazing, she nearly cried.

She curled, reaching out to him, wanting to touch him to feel closer to him, but the strain on her abdomen acted as a warning flare, forcing her to give up her attempt. Angling himself to the side a little, he moved one of his hands up to close the distance, threading his fingers with hers. Bringing his other hand down between her legs, he slickened his fingers, running them through her wetness, making her groan and lift her hips, eager to feel them slide inside of her, and when they did, she gasped, clenching around him.

She tried to stay still, to keep her abdomen muscles as relaxed as possible, but the urge to move against his hand drove her to roll her hips, pushing him deeper inside. He curled his fingers, sliding them in and out, circling her clit with his tongue, sending shocks of pleasure rushing up and down her body. She moaned, grip tightening on his hand in hers. Squeezing her breast with her free hand, she pinched her nipple, sending fresh waves crashing over her as she rocked her hips. Her scars tugged a little, freshly knitted muscle aching in warning, and she let out a frustrated whimper. He hummed against her, and she knew he was worried.

She sucked in a deep breath, forcing herself to ease up and be still. Stroking her thumb over the webbing between his thumb and finger, she hoped to soothe and reassure him with her touch. "I'm okay, don't stop. God, don't stop."

* * *

Thane removed his fingers from her, the sounds of her pleasure filled cries still echoing in his ears, mixing with the pressure of his own pounding pulse. Sweet Arashu, he ached to be inside of her. He kissed her thigh, turning his head to rub his frills over her skin, the sensation making his eyes flutter closed. He savored the way she trembled beneath his touch.

"Come here," she said, her voice low and pleading. "Lay behind me."

Planting his palms into the mattress, he pushed himself up from the bed and slid his pants down over his hips, letting them drop to the floor as he stepped out of them. She rolled onto her left side, remaining slightly bent at the waist as she adjusted the pillows under her head, the moonlight streaming in through the curtains making her skin glow. She was beautiful, more beautiful than he thought she realized. As stunning as the goddess who breathed life into her, and she was his.

The taste of her lingering on his tongue begged him to throw caution to the wind and rush to join with her, but he refused to give himself over so completely and risk causing her pain. Climbing back onto the bed, he stretched out behind her, slow and careful, not wanting to jostle her too much. It seemed an odd position to him, but the idea of doing something new with her only added to his excitement. He brushed his lips over the back of her neck before scraping his teeth over the same spot, loving the taste of ocean on her skin and the way she tilted her head, offering more of herself to him.

She reached behind her, rubbing her hand along his waist and hip before bringing her left leg up, knee almost pointing at the ceiling, resting the sole of her foot on her other calf. Sliding his hand along the inside of her thigh, he nipped at her neck again, brushing his fingers over the coarse hair between her legs. Spreading her open, he pressed the pads of his fingers to the bundle of nerves which brought her so much pleasure, savoring the moan it pulled from her as he worked his fingers around in small circles.

He moved a little lower down on the bed, trailing his tongue along her spine and planting kisses on her shoulder blades, hoping he found the right angle. Shifting himself closer, her moist warmth called out to him, guiding him home. He took himself in hand and slid the tip of his erection through her folds, letting out a groan as her heat soaked into him, teasing him. Her body trembled against his chest, and she arched her back, pushing herself against him as he made a minor adjustment to line himself up with her opening.

Starting to ease forward, he moaned as she rippled around him, her body welcoming him inside. He pulled his hand away, bringing it up to grip her hip, reminding himself he must be careful with what little coherence she left him with in the moment. She lowered her leg as he pushed in further, increasing the pressure around him, and he clenched his jaw, fighting the urge to just take her hard and fast. Pulling his hand up, she settled it over her heart, wrapping her arm around his as he started to slowly rock his hips.

She sucked in staggered breaths. "Oh, God."

He stopped moving by sheer force of will alone, sucking in a calming breath, fingers clenching her hip. "Are you in pain, siha?" Dread filled him—though whether from the thought of hurting her or the possibility she may need him to stop, he wasn't sure which. Both, he told himself, it was both.

"No." She moaned, turning her head toward him, squeezing his fingers beneath her hand. "No. God, you feel so good."

He smiled and stretched his other arm out over his head, curling himself around her, pressing his lips to her back and shoulder. "As do you. I've missed you." Rocking his hips, he pushed himself in a little deeper, savoring the hitch in her breath, the tightening of her inner walls. "Missed tasting you, touching you, being inside of you."

She felt … divine. He breathed in her scents, holding the little pieces of her in his lungs. Even with as agonizingly slow as he moved, he worried about hurting her; he knew she'd felt pain with her release, but it didn't seem to be enough to dissuade her. Thank Arashu, because he thought it very well might kill him if he couldn't be with her just then.

She moaned as he moved, her hand sliding away from his, trailing down between her legs. He hummed, feeling her tighten even more around him, driving him closer to the edge. Knowing she worked with him to bring herself to another orgasm, he shifted his hand to cup her breast, squeezing her nipple between his thumb and finger. He moved a little faster, listening for any sign she was in pain, but all he heard was moans of pleasure and his name on her lips, soft as a prayer. He didn't think he'd last much longer himself, but oh, how he first wanted to take back to her place of bliss again.

* * *

Thane found Avalina sitting out on the front porch, looking out over the woods. Turning her head, she glanced at him and smiled as he sat down next to her. When he'd realized the date, he knew exactly where she'd be, where her thoughts would be: with Tarava and the krogan who killed her. The men Avalina called on Thane to help her dispatch, having tracked them from Omega to Garvug.

"Do you ever regret it, Thane?" she asked, voice soft and pensive. "Hunting down Stiv Kay and the others?"

He sat there for a moment, gaze roaming over the trees while he considered his feelings on the matter. Regret … he wasn't entirely certain regret was truly one of them. He told himself he regretted what he did to Stiv Kay and the others, but …. "Can one say they truly regret an act, even while knowing if they had it to do all over again, they would?"

She scoffed, the sound light and airy, little more than a breath being expelled. "I have no need for more of your philosophizing."

"No, I suppose not." He hummed, tracing the grain of the wood on the arm of the chair. "Yes … there are times I regret what I have done. Their lives ended by my choosing. I own the responsibility, and the memories of the things I did to them still haunts me. But as I said …."

"You would do it all over again." The statement only made her sound sadder.

"Indeed." He turned his head to look at her, taking in the slight furrow of her brow and the slump to her shoulders. "Do you continue to struggle with regret, Avalina?"

She sucked in a trembling breath and shook her head. "Only that I didn't stay longer, didn't try harder to convince her to leave." Tears welled up in her eyes, one breaking free to spill down over her cheek, and she wiped it away. "The galaxy is a cruel place. Compared to what they did to my daughter, they were shown mercy." She swallowed and shook her head. "It's not their faces that haunt me, but hers. And, I confess, the unknown faces of those who might've loved those men, who mourn their passing, and who were left without answers. I'm no fool, I know Tarava wasn't … she did things no mother would be proud of. Some might even say she deserved her death," she said, her voice breaking into a sob, " _but she was my daughter_."

His heart ached for Avalina. Tarava was more than just an exotic dancer at Afterlife, she was one of Aria's  _pets_. She did Aria's bidding, and Thane understood all too well why some of the things Tarava did under Aria's tutelage earned the attention of the same sorts of people who often hired him. It truly was only a matter of time before someone decided to remove her permanently. Aria, unlike Tarava, however, employed personal guards to keep her safe from mercenary thugs and a reputation leaving very few willing to even send a trained assassin after her. Avalina's regret for the people left behind, after the two of them put an end to the mercenaries who claimed the bounty on her daughter, fueled her 'requirements' for him. In her mind, any one of his contracts might be another Tarava—someone's child who still yet might be saved by someone who loved them.

* * *

"The logs go as far back as the last few years." Theodus leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands over his abdomen. "Krios, they've taken hundreds of people, maybe even more that aren't in these logs. There's reports—studies on various species, and although they are surprisingly well researched, most of them seem to be utterly irrelevant. I can't see why it would matter to the collectors whether female turians are more prone than males to complications after digesting levo based proteins, if the cellular aging rate in humans can be correlated to eye color, or if left-handed salarians live longer than right-handed salarians. How can any of this possibly matter to the collectors, especially enough for them to go through all of  _this_ to find out?" He opened his hands, turning his palms out. "Loathe as I am to admit it, I'm stumped. I'm having trouble putting together a report because I don't know what's truly relevant and what isn't."

"I see." Thane looked down at the bed in front of him, already trying to calculate his next move.

"I'll refund your payment and continue to store the data for you until you have another location you wish for it to be sent," said Theodus.

"Keep your payment, Theodus." Thane lifted his gaze back to the other drell and gave him a light shake of his head. "I won't fault you for failing to make sense of the incomprehensible, but please, keep the data for now."

"If you insist." Theodus' lips twitched into a smile, making it perfectly clear he'd expected Thane to refuse the offered refund. "What of the file from the personal laptop? Perhaps there's something in there that will help me to make sense of the rest."

Thane let his gaze drift around the small bedroom, a heavy weight settling in on his shoulders. He sighed, suddenly feeling tired and defeated. "I don't believe there is, but yes, perhaps it is time you take a look."

"Are you well, Krios?" Theodus asked, the compassion in his voice sounding genuine.

Thane took a deep breath and met his gaze again. "I … I find the events surrounding this target quite disturbing."

"From what I've seen," Theodus said, leaning forward to fold his arms on his desk, "I'd be surprised if you didn't."

"Indeed. I'm afraid the things in the Enkindlers' file only make it worse." Thane paused taking only a second to weigh out whether or not he wished to divulge anything further before he said, "She … the target was a relative of someone I know."

He let out a soft chuckle at the exaggerated look of surprise on Theodus' face. He knew the man wasn't shocked by the content of the admission but rather because Thane actually  _volunteered_  information about himself. Perhaps Theodus managed to win a few favors with Thane. He'd treated Jasmine with great respect, attempting to protect her dignity despite her giving him permission to share his findings with everyone present back on Ferris Fields. He'd handled her gently when she sought him out for more information on Leon's violations, too. Thane appreciated his actions, found them honorable, even if he never had any reason to suspect Theodus might act harshly towards her.

Thane tilted his head, studying Theodus on his omni-tool's screen. "And you, Theodus? Are you well?"

Theodus smiled, leaning back in his chair again. "I am well, thank you for asking." His smile faltered a little, distaste clear in his eyes. "And how is Avalina?"

Thane laughed. "You still don't care for her much, I see."

"She steals work from me," Theodus said with a shrug, "but I don't wish her ill."

"Avalina is well," Thane said, smirking.

They both knew Avalina's work differed from Theodus'. Their skill sets, though similar in some aspects, were relatively different and brought them both an abundance of clients. However, there were jobs Avalina took on occasion which were better suited to Theodus' skill set, but she was capable of providing her clients with what they required. Theodus always did his best to provide his clients with more than they asked for, and he believed he shouldn't take a job at all if he couldn't provide them with such a high standard. So, in his mind, neither should Avalina.

She … insulted his work ethic. Theodus took great pride in what he did, and with good reason; it's why Thane went to Theodus for assistance more than anyone else. But it offended Theodus for someone to be as skilled as Avalina and yet have so little regard for that level of skill. Theodus equated his work with his livelihood, even his life, but for Avalina, it was little more than a footnote, something she did as required. That being said, Thane knew they both referred clients to one another when a client required something beyond their individual abilities.

* * *

Avalina laughed, shaking her head at Jasmine. "Oh no, Keto was one of the first to leave Rakhana." She glanced at Thane and smirked. "From a time when the drell were still their own people and not hanar on two legs. We're talking about a completely different culture."

Thane chuckled, turning his palm out. "We are still our own people, Avalina. What culture hasn't evolved over time with close contact with other species? Surely the asari know this better than most."

"So, what were drell like back then?" Jasmine asked Avalina even though she smiled at Thane, leaning back to drape her arm over the top of her chair.

Her curiosity was piqued. One of the things she absolutely loved about asari and krogan, they were walking, talking, breathing history books. They lived through so much, watched as the worlds changed around them, witnessed incredible advancements in science and technology, and somehow managed to adapt to it all with grace—well, the asari did it with grace, the krogan not so much. Had humans been involved with galactic society long enough, Avalina might even be able to tell Jasmine things about her own peoples' history she never knew.

"When I first met Keto, I found him … boorish," Avalina said, dragging Jasmine's focus back to her. A soft smile brightened her face as she looked at the glass holding a handful of wildflowers Jasmine brought in earlier in the day. She chuckled. "Which only made him more attractive to me at the time. He was the first drell I'd ever met in person. He couldn't stand the hanar or Kahje. He only stayed there for two years before making his way to the Citadel. Years later, I had the opportunity to spend some time with him on Kahje, visiting his friends and family. They were loud, rowdy, and they seemed to prefer to settle simple squabbles with violence." She grinned. "I loved them immediately."

Jasmine laughed, trying to imagine Thane or any of the other drell she encountered since meeting him behaving the way Avalina described. The image seemed so completely at odds with what she'd come to expect from drell, she struggled to imagine it at all. She smiled when Avalina met her gaze again. "How'd you two meet?"

"I'd been assigned as a guard to one of our Thessian diplomats, the other commandos and I escorted her to the Citadel for a meeting with the Council. She gave us some time off while she attended to other appointments we weren't allowed to accompany her into, so we made our way down to the Wards." Avalina shrugged. "The people living in the Wards were more our style, I suppose you'd say. I found Keto working in one of the bars, clearing tables and bringing drinks to customers. I caught him staring at me a couple of times, and when I did, he'd look away. Hesperia told me if I didn't go talk to him, she would." She smirked. "She and I were always pushing one another. Anyway, I decided why not? You should've seen the grin on his face when I walked over to him." Something sad seemed to tug at the corners of her eyes for just a second before she sighed and asked, "What about you two? How did you meet Thane?"

Thane let out a groan, chuckling when Jasmine looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Dipping his head to her, he said, "Be kind, siha."

Avalina hummed. "This sounds promising."

Jasmine grinned, stretching her leg out to prop her ankle on his knee, and he rested his hand on her shin. She turned her attention back to Avalina. "We were sent after the same target, and he beat me to the guy."

"That's it?" Avalina arched her brow.

Jasmine snickered. "Not exactly, but the rest doesn't really paint either of us in the best light." Normally, she'd jump at the chance to take a dig at him and tell Avalina all about how much of an ass he'd been to her when they first met, but maybe managing to convince him she felt up to the task of spending more intimate time together the last couple of nights left her in a better, more accommodating mood.

Avalina glanced between her and Thane. "Surely you can give me more than such a small piece of what is clearly a more elaborate tale."

Thane brushed his thumb back and forth over Jasmine's leg. "She took my photograph, and I had to insist she delete it."

Jasmine snorted. "And by insist, he means hit me with a Warp and make me fall through the ceiling." Okay, maybe she didn't feel completely accommodating.

"Thane!" Avalina laughed, her entire body shaking with her mirth.

Thane smirked, shaking his head, tightening his grip on Jasmine's leg. "I couldn't risk her escaping with my image."

"We fought over it for a few seconds, but I gave in and deleted the picture." Nevermind the fact Jasmine felt fairly certain it was the only way she would've made it back out of their alive. "My fall wrecked the ceiling tiles, though, so after he bailed I was having trouble getting back out." She turned her attention back to Thane, giving him a soft smile. "A heartbeat away from being captured by the target's goons, he grabbed me and pulled me back through the ceiling."

Avalina's smile widened. "How long ago was this?"

"About a year ago," Jasmine said, shrugging, "but we didn't get together right away."

Avalina raised a brow, leaning forward to fold her arms on the table. "I'd be truly astonished if you did."

Jasmine hummed, knowing the asari was right. Even if Jasmine didn't start things off with less than pleasant feelings toward Thane, there really wasn't any way their relationship would've come about any faster. Even if they weren't both assassins and, as such, prone to not trusting other people, Thane wasn't in any place to think about a relationship when they first met. She smiled, opting to turn the topic back to Avalina and asked, "How long were you and Keto together?"

"Twenty years." Avalina paused, taking in a slow, deep breath before continuing, "We were discussing more children when he went to the sea."

"What happened?" Jasmine asked, keeping her voice soft and unobtrusive. "If you're comfortable sharing."

Avalina gave her a sad smile. "I suppose I am." She cleared her throat a little and shifted in her seat. "We'd gone to the Citadel to visit some friends. It was Tarava's … our daughter's first time there. Keto went to the store one evening and never returned."

She fell silent for a moment, gaze shifting back to the bouquet on the table. Jasmine waited her out, recognizing the look of someone trying their damnedest to put a leash on their emotions. Thane's hand slipped a little further up Jasmine's leg, palm settling on her kneecap, and she reached out, covering his hand with her own.

"When C-Sec found me to tell me of his death, they told me he died heroically." Avalina let out a soft scoff. "As if it really changed anything for me at the moment as I held our sobbing daughter in my arms. Apparently someone—an asari and turian couple—robbed the store while he was inside, and they turned their weapons on a batarian family with a small child, intending to use them as hostages. Keto tried to stop them, and there was a struggle."

She swallowed back a sob, turning it into a strangled cough, then took a second to collect herself. "They shot him and fled, but no one else was hurt." She glanced up, meeting Jasmine's gaze. "It's been so long, over a hundred and seventy years, most asari would've moved on by now, bonded with someone new, but I can't bring myself to." She waved her hand. "Oh, I'm not saying I haven't been with anyone else during this time, I just haven't formed a new bond. I don't suppose I ever will. It doesn't really feel like something I need in my life anymore."

Jasmine understood. She didn't really get the whole point of marriage. Then again, it wasn't exactly like she had the best marital role models growing up. The only truly successful marriage she had any real experience with was Geoffrey and Karin. They were good together, and Jasmine definitely thought they'd spend the rest of their lives together, but they were one in a million. Rone and Kelena seemed pretty happy, but Jasmine really didn't have much to go on with those two. Otherwise, almost every married or bonded couple she'd ever come across weren't happy together and didn't last. Half the time because one or the other cheated, the other half because they just grew apart … or didn't really think through things before getting married in the first place. She'd considered marriage once before, with Leon, but she was stupid and full of all sorts of fantastical ideas back then, and she'd thought of him as the next best thing to God.

Avalina glanced between Jasmine and Thane, the question clear in her eyes, but thank God she didn't give it voice. Marriage  _was not_  a conversation she thought either of them were prepared to have yet, and she couldn't imagine Thane would ever really want to marry again, either. They didn't need a wedding to be committed to each other, anyway. She held no doubts Thane was hers and hers alone, and she sure didn't want anyone else. She squeezed his hand and he turned his palm, closing his fingers around hers.

"You're young, but you humans seem to love moving through life fast," Avalina said, drawing Jasmine's attention back to her. "What about you, have you ever been married?"

Jasmine snorted and shook her head. "No, never married. No kids." Her omni-tool vibrated against her wrist, and she tugged her hand free from Thane's to glance at the code.

_Isaac?_

Sucking in a deep breath, she held it, hope washing through her as she dropped her leg down from Thane's lap and pushed away from the table. She glanced up, catching Thane's gaze, understanding dawning in his eyes as he studied her face and smiled.

"Excuse me," she said, glancing at Avalina. "I've got to take this in private."

She made her way to the bedroom, closing the door behind her and sat down on the bed. Accepting the call, she let out a heavy breath, a near sob of relief to see Isaac's face fill the screen. "Jesus Christ, Bossman. Damn, am I glad to see you."

He grinned at her, a tired look in his eyes. "Where are you, Sunshine?"

"We're on Lusia. Athena Nebula in the Tomaros System." She shifted back a little further on the bed. "Do you want coordinates for my exact location?"

He nodded. "Yeah, send them to me. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Running her fingers over her omni-tool, she pulled up her coordinates and forwarded them to him. "Are you okay? Is Dickhead okay?"

Isaac let out a soft chuckle. "We're both okay. I'll tell him you said hello. I've got to go now, we're still on the move."

"Wait!" She didn't care if her voice came out a screech. She didn't hear anything from for a week, she needed him to give her  _something_. "Are you being followed?"

He shook his head and then glanced around as if checking again to make sure no one lurked in the shadows. "I don't think so, but we're not stopping until I know for sure."

"Okay, yeah." Licking her lips, she nodded. "We're not alone here, just so you know. There's an asari here with us, someone Thane trusts to help keep me safe, but we haven't given her any details."

Isaac pursed his lips a little but then bobbed his head in the odd way of his—something she'd grown to love about him. "Good. Thanks for the heads up. I'll see you soon," he said, and then the screen went dark.


	27. A New Lead

**A New Lead**

Avalina came back inside the cabin, features drawn tight. "Someone or something has triggered a proximity alarm. I'm going to check it out."

Jasmine turned in the chair, just about to tell Avalina that she expected Isaac any day when her omni-tool pinged. "Avalina, wait a sec." She opened her omni-tool and recognized Isaac's contact information. She glanced back up at the asari. "Just let me take this real quick, it might be a friend of mine out there."

Avalina's lips pressed tighter, but she nodded. Jasmine stood and cast a glance at Thane who'd stopped in the middle of his exercise routine—much to her dismay—alert and prepared to deal with whatever threat might be nearby. He smiled at her and dipped his head, tucking his hands behind his back. She grinned, the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt didn't even make him look less dignified.

She went into their bedroom and answered the call. "Hey, Bossman."

Isaac's face was barely visible against the darkness of the woods, the soft glow of his omni-tool not doing much to light his face. "Sunshine, would you mind asking your boyfriend to come disarm his traps. I'm tired and it's late, I'd rather not take the risk of getting blown up."

"Stay where you're at. I'll come get you." She grinned, feeling stupid happy and excited to see him.

"Thank you."

She ended the call and left the bedroom, checking her pistol over before reholstering it at her back. Glancing up she met first Thane's gaze then Avalina's. "It's Malcolm," she said, defaulting to Isaac's last known alias in his absence. "I need to go get him."

"Give me a moment to get dressed," Thane said.

"I'll go with her." Avalina waved a hand at Thane. "I want to make sure the alarm resets itself properly, anyway. It was on the edge of the perimeter, though. The woods are too dense, we won't be able to fly the entire way." She turned back to Jasmine. "It's dark, and you'll be walking on uneven ground, are you certain you feel up to it? I can escort your friend back alone."

"Ah, that's not such a good idea." Jasmine's eyebrows lifted, lips pursing. "He knows someone else is here with us, but if you show up without me …." Trailing off, she gave the asari a slow shake of her head.

Avalina tilted her head to the side. "Of course."

"Siha, are you sure you wouldn't rather Avalina and I go?" Thane asked, moving over to her, hand settling on the small of her back. "Malcolm knows me, and he knows you are injured. Perhaps my presence will be sufficient to ease his concerns."

Of course, she could just call Isaac and tell him that she planned to send Thane and Avalina, but she really did want to go get him herself. "Stop worrying. Both of you. I'll be fine."

Thane dipped his head, pulling his hand away to tuck behind him. "Very well."

Avalina snickered and turned back to the door, and Jasmine followed her out onto the porch, closing the door behind them. Taking a second to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, Jasmine scanned the yard before making her way down the stairs. Despite being able to handle them without too much issue, Avalina stayed close to Jasmine, her hand hovering just behind Jasmine's back.

Jasmine opened her mouth, about to make a 'mom' joke, but snapped her mouth closed on it before it could slip out, realizing how calloused it would sound considering what she'd learned of the asari. Avalina followed her over to the passenger side of the skycar, unlocking it and opening the door for Jasmine. She watched as Jasmine settled into the seat before closing the door again.

"How do you want to be introduced?" Jasmine asked as soon as Avalina had the skycar in the air and headed to Isaac's location.

"Avalina is fine. I don't bother with aliases." She glanced at Jasmine, a smug smirk lifting the corner of her lips. "If I need one, I'm not doing my job right."

Jasmine snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "You do realize both Thane and I use aliases, right?"

Avalina glanced at her again and smiled, the softer, motherly touch to her face. "I do, but we are not in the same profession, my dear."

"Fair enough." Jasmine shrugged, turning her attention back out at the black sky, only the faintest hint of glowing lights from the city out on the horizon.

They were only in the skycar for a couple of minutes when Avalina settled it down in a clearing. "This is as close as we can get in the skycar, but it's only a few more minutes on foot from here."

She turned off the vehicle and got out, moving around to Jasmine's side by the time she'd gotten the door opened. Avalina held a hand out to her, and she slid her hand into the asari's palm, letting her help heave Jasmine out of the skycar. Avalina drew her pistol before reaching into a pouch on her belt, a moment later, the bright beam of a flashlight broke through the darkness.

Closing the door, Avalina glanced at Jasmine. "You might wish to have your weapon ready in case there are any  _niathik_ around. I hope your friend is armed."

"Definitely armed, and biotic," Jasmine said, opening her omni-tool.

"Good." Avalina grinned, the whites of her teeth standing out in the darkness. "Follow behind me as closely as you can, don't veer off or you might trigger a trap."

"Fantastic." Jasmine sucked on her teeth, activated a flashlight app on her omni-tool, and drew her pistol. "Alright, let's go."

Avalina went slow, glancing back over her shoulder frequently as she led Jasmine through the near pitch-black woods. Jasmine kept her focus on the ground in front of her, doing her best to follow in Avalina's footsteps and watch for obstacles. The last thing she needed was to take a tumble out there, traps or no traps, but it meant trusting in Avalina completely to not only remember where the traps actually were but to be watchful for  _niathik_  and anything else which might be prowling the woods. Admittedly, that level of trust was hard to come by for her, and she didn't know Avalina very well, but it was either trust or fall on her ass.

Avalina stopped after a few minutes, holding a hand out to Jasmine while she scanned the trees with her flashlight until her beam landed on a  _niathik_. The  _niathik_ pulled back its flews, baring its teeth with a snarl. The elongated scales along its spine lifted away from its body, making it appear larger and more threatening. Avalina flared, pulling her biotics around her before tossing them out at the creature in a Singularity. The blue and white, swirling orb of dark energy pulled the  _niathik_  into orbit, but still, the beast growled, struggling to free itself.

Avalina started walking again, waving Jasmine on. "Come, others will be nearby."

They walked for another couple of minutes, listening to the howls of  _niathik_  coming from far closer than Jasmine liked. Her side ached a little, but it stayed at a tolerable level. Still, she felt relieved when Avalina announced they'd reached the proximity alarm.

"Bossman?" Jasmine called out, just loud enough for her voice to carry beyond her personal space but not so loud it'd pull in the attention of any other  _niathik_ —she hoped.

"I'm here, Sunshine."

She turned to the sound of his voice, raising her omni-tool to shine the light out in search of him. The beam caught him, leaning against a rock four meters away. Seeing him there,  _alive_  and in the flesh, she flashed back to her childhood, before her life went to shit—coming back from family vacation one summer when she was nine, the breathless thrill of seeing her best friend, Jamie, for the first time in weeks. A silly grin crossed her face, and she had to fight the urge to run right over and throw her arms around him.

He winced, holding his hand up in front of his face, and she lowered the light back to the ground in front of him. She bit the edge of her lip, forcing her face back into something at least resembling a grown ass woman and professionalism. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Avalina squatted down, messing with a device on the ground.

"Is the path to him clear?" Jasmine asked.

Avalina glanced up and looked over to where Isaac stood, gathering his bags. "Yes."

Jasmine made her way over, carefully picking her way across the uneven terrain. When she reached him, he held his arms out to her, and she stepped into his embrace. He rested his chin on top of her head for a moment before letting her go again, holding her at arm's length to look over her in the dark.

"You trust her?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Jasmine lifted her shoulder, more of a twitch than a shrug. "Yeah."

"What does she know?"

"My first name, but not yours. She assumed my occupation through my association with Thane, but I haven't directly confirmed it for her …" She tilted her head in concession. "… or denied it. She knows people might've followed us here, but not who or why."

He nodded. "And what do you know?"

The question brought a smile to her face. "Her name's Avalina, last name unknown. She's an ex-commando. Really powerful biotic. Thane mentioned she uses an assault rifle, but I've only seen her with a pistol. He thinks she can help us, one of her specialties was hacking into military grade systems. He mentioned to her that I might need a favor from her, but he didn't say what and neither did I. She's agreed to help, though, if I ask her to, on the principle of the friendship she shares with Thane." She hesitated but then said, "And a few personal details."

Isaac bobbed his head, leaving it at that. "Good, what name did you give her for me?"

"Malcolm." She shifted her weight more to her right side when the dull ache in her abdomen started to throb a little. "Oh, and I mentioned you're armed and a biotic."

He chuckled, using his grip on her arms to turn her back toward Avalina. "Why?"

"Because there's  _niathik_  in these woods," she said, shining her omni-tool's light at the ground in front of her as she walked, "and she expressed a concern for your safety."

"The lizard-wolf things?"

She nodded, stepping over a fallen branch. "Yeah."

"Yeah, saw a few pass by after I called you."

"They didn't attack you?" She glanced over her shoulder despite not being able to make out more than his silhouette.

"I said I saw them, not they saw me," he said, his cocky tone bringing a smile to her face. "I know how to be still and quiet, and I stayed upwind."

Avalina stood from examining her proximity alarm as they approached, and Jasmine had a feeling she didn't need so much time to do whatever to the device but meant to give Jasmine her space with Isaac without being rushed.

"Avalina, this is my friend, Malcolm," Jasmine said, waving her hand at Isaac.

Isaac held his hand out to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine." Avalina tilted her head to the side and shook Isaac's hand. "I apologize, but the woods are too dense for me to bring the skycar any closer. We'll have to walk a ways. Might I help you with your bags."

"Oh, no, thank you. I've got them."

* * *

She saw Thane standing from one of the chairs on the porch as Avalina lowered the skycar. He started to come down into the yard when she opened her door, but she waved him off. So, he stopped at the top of the stairs, tucking his hands behind his back. Although he'd put on his linen shirt, he'd remained barefoot. There wasn't any point in him risking stepping on a sharp rock or stick without shoes on when she was perfectly capable of getting out of the skycar on her own. And even if she wasn't, between Avalina and Isaac, she had more help than she might need by far.

Isaac climbed out of the back before she'd gotten her legs over the side and bent down to help her. She snorted, but let him slide his arms around her and help her up, it did seem a lot harder getting up than getting down. Once he had her on her feet, he grabbed his bags out of the back and slung them over his shoulder before settling his hand on her lower back. She thought about telling him she was fine, but she'd been so worried about him the last few days, feeling his hand there actually left her more relaxed.

Leaning down a little closer to her, he said, "I forgot how serious he always looks. Does he make that face in bed?"

Jasmine laughed, reaching out to slap the back of her hand against his stomach, but even with as tired as he seemed, his fingers closed around her wrist, stopping her before she made contact. She tugged her arm free, glancing up at him. "Don't act like you're not jealous I got him first."

Chuckling, he put a little pressure on her back, urging her away from the skycar. He closed the door and moved up beside her, guiding her through the yard to the stairs. Avalina moved up past them, her hand brushing over Thane's shoulder as she walked by and went inside. Jasmine made her way up the steps, Isaac's hand slipped away from her back. At the top, she turned, standing next to Thane.

Isaac lingered, one foot on the first step, the other on the second. He held out his hand. "Thane."

"Malcolm." Thane dipped his head, shaking Isaac's hand. "Please, come inside."

"Thanks." Isaac made his way the rest of the way up the stairs.

_Pfft._

Thane's hand took the place of Isaac's as he turned her toward the door, and they followed Isaac inside. He closed and locked the door behind them before telling Isaac. "Please, make yourself comfortable. Are you hungry? Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

"A glass of water would be fantastic, thanks." Isaac turned to glance over the cabin before moving to the couch, dropping his bags by his feet.

Thane glanced at Avalina, tilting his head toward the kitchen area, and she stood from her chair, following after him. Jasmine moved to sit next to Isaac, angling her body toward him so she could give him a once over in the light. He looked exhausted, but no real worse for the wear. She didn't see any sign of injuries, though, just a sag to his shoulders and a dimness to his eyes. His face looked scruffier than she'd ever seen it, so she didn't think he'd bothered with shaving for at least two or three days. His clothes appeared a little rumpled, but not too bad. Hell, he still looked like he'd just walked off an advertisement kiosk promoting the sale of men's fashion and accessories. At least he didn't show up wearing a flashy, three-piece suit.

He smirked, reaching over to pat her knee. "I'm fine, Sunshine. Tired, but fine." Pulling his hand away, he leaned back into the corner of the couch, draping his arm over the back.

Thane's soft, low voice carried to her from the kitchen, stopping her response. "With Malcolm here, I believe Jasmine will be safe enough you may return to your home if you wish. Though, as always, you are welcome to stay."

She glanced over her shoulder at Thane and Avalina, watching as Thane poured a glass of water from the pitcher he kept in the refrigerator.

Avalina shook her head, leaning her hip against the counter. "I believe it would be quite crowded, unless the young man wishes to share my bed." She glanced over at Isaac, a smirk on her face. "He is rather handsome."

Jasmine snorted, glancing back at Isaac in time to catch the grin on his face and the soft, almost awkward chuckle. She smirked, turning her attention back to Avalina, curious to see how the rest of it would play out.

Thane chuckled, putting the pitcher back into the refrigerator. "I don't believe he'd be interested."

"Pity." Avalina raised her brow, gaze shifting to Jasmine. "Only humans?"

Jasmine shook her head and said, "Only men."

"I see." Avalina let out an exaggerated, pitiful sigh and shook her head, turning her attention back to Thane. "Well then, I'll gather my things. Call me if you need anything."

"I will." He reached out, settling his hand on her arm. "Thank you, Avalina."

She smiled, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Of course, Thane. Your Jasmine is quite lovely; it's been a pleasure getting to know her."

He glanced at Jasmine and smiled. "Indeed, she is."

Avalina gave him a soft chuckle and turned, heading for the guest bedroom.

Thane made his way back to the living room area and handed the glass to Isaac before taking a seat in the chair. "I trust you'll find the guest bedroom acceptable?"

Isaac nodded, letting out a heavy, weary-sounding breath. "It's appreciated. I haven't slept much lately."

"It'll be weird not having her here." Jasmine pursed her lips, suddenly feeling a little sad.

Thane smiled and waved a hand. "She doesn't live far from here. If Malcolm intends to have you stay for awhile, I'm sure you'll be able to see her again."

Isaac bobbed his head when she glanced at him. "For a few days, at least." He turned his attention to Thane. "If you're sure you're okay with us sticking around?"

"Of course," Thane said, blinking as if the question genuinely surprised him, "stay for as long as you'd like."

A moment later, Avalina came out of the room with her bags draped over her shoulder. She moved to the where they sat and smiled down at Jasmine. "I told Thane to call me if he needs me, but I'd like to extend the same offer to you." She smiled, opening her arms to Jasmine when she stood.

Jasmine stepped into her embrace. "Thanks, Avalina. I really appreciate your being here."

"It's been my pleasure." Avalina pressed a hand to Jasmine's cheek. "Perhaps you will call me sometime, even if you don't need anything?"

Smiling, Jasmine nodded. "Sure, I can do that."

Avalina leaned down to kiss Jasmine on the cheek, and before she could pull away, Jasmine turned her face to return the gesture. It brought a soft smile to Avalina's face. "Stay safe."

"Maybe. We'll see." Jasmine flashed her mischievous grin. "I've been pretty bored lately."

Thane chuckled, reaching his hand out to Jasmine. She stepped away from Avalina, slipping her hand into his, and he tugged her down to his lap. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he kissed her when she leaned in, bringing her lips to his. Snuggling in against his chest, she settled her head on his shoulder and watched as Isaac stood to shake Avalina's hand.

"Thanks for helping to keep an eye on her." Isaac grinned, glancing at Jasmine to wink. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

Avalina chuckled, turning a little to smile at her, too. "Not at all." She dropped Isaac's hand, turning for the door.

"Bye, Avalina," Jasmine said.

Avalina glanced over her shoulder, waving. "Rest well, everyone." She left, locking the door again behind her.

Jasmine turned her attention back to Isaac, an odd, satisfied smile on his face as he watched her and Thane. Fighting back a yawn, she asked, "So, what's the word?"

He took in a deep breath and shook his head. "I'll fill you in tomorrow, Sunshine. I need to recharge."

She nodded and then eased herself up, Thane bracing her as she got her feet under her. "Let me show you where everything is."

Isaac stood, gathering his things and smirked at Jasmine. "I'm glad to see you're moving around better."

She snorted, leading Isaac off toward the guest bedroom. "You're not the only one."

* * *

Thane turned the covers back when Jasmine returned to the room, freshly showered and smelling of grapefruit and papaya. She crawled onto the bed next to him, warmth pouring off of her and soaking into his side as she pulled the covers back over herself, easing in against him. He hummed, lifting his arm for her to settle her head into the crook of his arm and press her face against his chest the way she loved to do. The way he loved. She let out a soft, content sigh, and he wrapped his arm around her back, settling his hand on her bare shoulder.

"I'm so glad he's okay," she whispered.

He rubbed his palm up and down the length of her arm as far as he could reach, smooth skin warm and tempting beneath his hand. "I know, siha."

She poked her finger into his side, making his muscles twitch at the playful gesture. "You could pretend to be happy he's okay."

Thane chuckled. "I am." He rubbed her arm again. "I'm pleased for you, both of you." And he was. In the little time passed since Isaac's arrival, he'd watched the stress melt off of her almost completely. "I may not know Isaac well, but it is quite clear he is important to you and you to him, and he seems like a good man."

"He is a good man," she said, snuggling in closer to him. "And so are you. I'm really glad you two were able to put your past aside and make nice."

"Indeed." He let his arm fall from her as she shifted, pushing up on her elbow with a soft grunt. He met her gaze, the moonlight catching in her eyes, and smiled.

Shifting around a little more, she leaned over him, brushing her soft mouth over his. Her lips parted, and he opened his mouth to her, meeting her tongue as it slipped inside. Bringing his hand up, he slid his hand through her damp hair, fingers wrapping around the base of her skull and pulled her in closer. She put her hand under his shirt, palm pressing against his abdomen before shifting to his hip, tucking her fingers under him and tugging. He rolled to his side, wedging his elbow beneath him to give him leverage as she eased back, laying flat on the bed, tongue still dancing over his. Fingers skating over his frills, she nipped at his lip, making her intentions clear.

He pulled back enough to whisper against her lips, "He might hear us."

"I don't care," she whispered back, tugging his lip between her teeth. "I'm glad he's here, but if he's here, it means I'll have to leave again soon, and I don't know if he'll want you to come with us."

The unpleasant thought already occurred to Thane, but he hoped Isaac might agree to allow him to stay with her, at least while she continued to heal. If, however, her handler insisted on taking her away without Thane, then he wanted to take as much out of every minute he had with her as possible. He closed his mouth back over hers, tongue tasting of mint, and slid a hand under her shirt to cup her breast. Humming her approval, she arched her back a little, pushing up into his hand. The rest of the galaxy slipped into the shadows of his mind, all worries about the collectors and Cerberus evaporating, as he focused his attention on the woman beneath him and how best to make her call out his name, voice breathless and heady.

* * *

Quite possibly for the first time since she met him, Jasmine woke up before Isaac. If he didn't set an alarm and didn't tell her that he wanted up at a specific time, then she had zero intention of waking him. She put on  _aramethe_ , a Lusian drink similar enough to coffee—at least with its energizing effects—Jasmine didn't mind so much not having the real thing around. She smiled at Thane when he started breakfast. They weren't up for very long, though, before Isaac's door opened.

Jasmine glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "Morning."

"Hey, Sunshine." He smiled at her before nodding at Thane and disappearing into the bathroom, bag slung over his shoulder.

By the time he returned, freshly showered and shaved, breakfast was ready and waiting. She filled his mug with  _aramethe_ , holding it out to him as he made his way to the table. He chuckled, taking it from her and patting her on the shoulder before sitting down. She watched him scarf down the  _shel'min_ eggs and the slices of fried meat, from the bird itself, before he even glanced her way again. She picked at her own plate, starting with the  _caltaupe_ , a favorite of hers from Lusia, the taste reminiscent of pineapples but with the graininess of a pear.

"I spoke with Theodus," Isaac said, bringing his coffee cup to his mouth. "He's located a potential contact, a turian, who knows things about Cerberus."

"He didn't say anything to me about it," Jasmine said, shifting forward to rest her elbows on the table and arching an eyebrow.

Swallowing a drink, he hummed and sat the cup back down. "Good. Maybe I can learn to actually trust him, then."

She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "What happened to us working this thing together?"

"I didn't tell him he  _couldn't_  tell you." He shrugged, taking another drink.

Thane reached over, settling his hand on her knee. "Theodus wouldn't have shared any information Isaac requested of him without specifically being asked to when they made the agreement, siha."

"When we leave here, we'll be heading to Earth to track her down and see if we can get her to talk." Isaac looked back down at his plate, starting in on his  _caltaupe_.

"Earth?" She raised an eyebrow despite the fact his attention left her.

Isaac only nodded, apparently not wanting to dive into the details just yet, and said, "Thane, Jasmine tells me you think your asari friend may be of use." He glanced up, bringing his fork up to his mouth. "What can you tell me about her?"

Thane propped his elbows on the table at either side of his plate and clasped his hands. "She is a former commando with a specialty of hacking into military grade servers. I am certain she can safely look into either Cerberus, the Alliance, or both further for you if you still require."

Isaac arched an eyebrow. "You know for a fact she can get into the Alliance's servers?"

Thane blinked, watching Isaac for a moment, tension filling the air. "I am."

A ball of ice formed in the pit of Jasmine's stomach. It wasn't something they'd talked about before, but it suddenly occurred to her that she really had no reason to believe Thane never accepted contracts on members of the Alliance in the past. The thought unsettled her. Even with her current feelings and fears about the Alliance, they were  _her_  people. It didn't change the way she felt about Thane, of course, but she knew if she'd come to the realization early on, back when they first met, they very well might've had a  _very_ different kind of relationship.

Isaac sucked in a deep breath, pursing his lips and bobbing his head. He looked down at his plate, pushing the fruit around for a second before finally saying, "Alright." His gaze flicked to Jasmine. "What do you think, Sunshine?"

She leaned back in her chair, pulling her mug with her to hold against her chest, letting the warmth from the  _aramethe_ thaw her insides. Sucking in a deep breath, she glanced at Thane, finding him resting his forehead against his knuckles, staring down at his plate. Turning her attention back to Isaac, she nodded. "If Thane says she can do it, I don't have any reason to doubt him. I haven't had much time to get to know her, but I believe she's a good person." She shrugged her good shoulder. "But being a good person doesn't necessarily mean we want to ask her to go digging through Alliance secrets."

Isaac looked at her, a smile tugging at the corner of his lip. "What's your gut say?"

"My gut says we can trust her." She took a sip of her  _aramethe_.

"Then we trust her, we don't have a whole lot of options with this thing." Isaac put a piece of fruit in his mouth, holding her gaze as he chewed and swallowed. "I sure as hell hope you're right."

She glanced at Thane again, reaching over to squeeze his knee. "So do I."

Thane looked up, turning his head to meet her gaze, face carefully neutral. "I suppose I owe you an apology."

"No." She shook her head. "Whatever jobs you took before we met …. It's already done." It wasn't so simple, though, but she didn't feel like she could handle discussing it further just then. If Isaac didn't make demands for details, then neither would she, not yet, at least.

Thane reached down, taking her hand from his knee and folded her fingers in his, bringing her hand to his lips. "Nevertheless, I  _am_  sorry, siha. I should've spoken to you about this before now, but I assure you—" He glanced at Isaac. "—both of you, I have only taken a handful of contracts related to the Alliance, and I sought no information which didn't pertain directly to locating and eliminating my target."

"Thank you." Isaac picked up his cup.

Thane dipped his head. "Indeed."

Squeezing his hand, Jasmine didn't say anything. She didn't know  _what_ to say, and she couldn't get a solid read on how Isaac was really dealing with it all.

"Well, why don't you give your friend a call … Avalina, right?" Isaac lifted an eyebrow, and Thane nodded. "Ask her if she's willing to come meet with me."

Thane let go of her hand, clasping his own together once again. "What will you have me tell her about you, should she ask?"

"Don't tell her anything." Jasmine leaned forward, putting her cup back on the table, she looked at Isaac. "She's already told me she would help if I asked, so … let me take the lead with her."

Isaac smirked, bringing his cup to his mouth. "Alright. You take the lead."

"Good, thank you." She nodded, and with things feeling settled, she turned her attention back to her plate. "I'll give her a call after breakfast."

* * *

"I am pleased you decided to come to me." Avalina sat in the chair, turning toward Jasmine, and crossed her long legs. "How can I be of service?"

Jasmine licked her lips. She'd spent all of the rest of breakfast and the time it took for Avalina to come over rehearsing her approach, but with Isaac and Thane both there, she still felt a little nervous. "Have you ever heard of Cerberus?"

Avalina's face grew deathly still, making Jasmine's insides knot up a little. "I have."

Sucking in a slow, deep breath, Jasmine trudged onward. "I'm looking for evidence of a connection between the Alliance and Cerberus. I have reason to believe the Alliance has been working with Cerberus on something they're calling Project Evolution. I need your help finding proof." She'd never told Avalina that she worked for the Alliance and figured it wasn't the best time to broach the subject—if ever—while asking the woman to hack into the powerhouse that was humanity's military and incidentally Jasmine's employer. It'd surely draw a lot of uncomfortable questions.

"I see." Avalina gestured at Jasmine's left side. "Was it the Alliance or Cerberus who injured you?"

"Neither," Jasmine said, shaking her head, "but the people we thought might follow us here are Cerberus. I had someone else looking into the matter, and he underestimated Cerberus." She only hesitated a second, it wouldn't reveal anything about Dickhead Raúl or where he was—hell, she didn't even know  _where_  he was—for her to make sure Avalina understood the dangers. "An assassin showed up at his home. Malcolm helped him relocate, he's gone to ground for now, and Thane brought me here until we could regroup."

Avalina's gaze slid to Isaac before returning to Jasmine, probably trying to figure out exactly what his relationship was to Jasmine. "What would you have me do?"

"It'll come with risks, so nothing unless you're absolutely sure you can avoid detection." Jasmine took a deep breath, letting her statement sit for a few seconds. She couldn't believe what she was about to say. She licked her lips, letting her breath seep back out of her. "I'd like you to hack into the Alliance's systems—Cerberus, too—search for something definitive connecting the two. I can provide you with information on what we've already found, and you can go from there."

Avalina studied Jasmine in silence for a moment before asking, "And what will you do with this proof, if it's found?"

Jasmine fought the urge to look at Isaac for guidance and shook her head. "I don't know yet. I just need to find it, need to know if it's true."

"You're prepared to pay for this?" Avalina shifted forward, uncrossing her legs and resting her elbows on her knees. "I will gladly do this for you for less than I would others, but I can't ask less than a hundred thousand credits."

Jasmine forced her face to stay still. Jesus fuck, a hundred thousand credits? She was seriously in the wrong profession.

"It's not an issue," Isaac said, voice soft but sure.

Avalina glanced at him again, tilting her head to the side in a nod. "Then I will get started once I return home." She stood, and Jasmine followed her up. "The contact information I provided you with will automatically encrypt anything you send to me, but you are welcome to add any additional security you wish." She opened her omni-tool, fingers running over the keys, and glanced at Isaac. "You can send the payment here. Half up front and half when I've finished." Avalina hesitated, fingers still over the keys as she turned her attention back to Jasmine. "There is one more matter. Should someone come looking for me, if I must kill them, I will, but I would require something else from you. I believe Thane has discussed this with you already?"

Jasmine sucked on her teeth, she'd hoped it wouldn't come up. "I'm not in a position to pick and choose my jobs … I don't really have a say in the matter." She didn't know what else she could offer to Avalina, what other promises she might make, but she simply couldn't refuse an assignment given to her without a damn good reason to give the Phantoms, even with her handler in on the whole thing.

"I see." Her gaze slid to Isaac again before returning to Jasmine, lips parted as if she were about to say something more.

Thane cleared his throat. "I, however, am. I will accept the cost of those lives, Avalina."

She turned and looked down at him, raising a brow. "As you wish." Finishing with her omni-tool, she turned her attention back to Jasmine and closed the screen.

Jasmine's omni-tool pinged, and she opened it, forwarding the information to Isaac but said, "I'll send the initial payment now." It'd hit her reserves hard, damn near break the bank, but she got them all into the mess, the least she could do was pull her own weight. Thankfully, no one questioned her, and she transferred fifty thousand credits to Avalina's account.

_Damn, I hope this is worth it._


	28. Pretty Perfect

**Pretty Perfect**

"I'd feel better about it if we do this one alone, Jasmine." Isaac leaned back against the counter, resting the toe of his shoe against the floor as he crossed one ankle over the other. "I'm sorry, but we're not just seeking out this new contact on Earth."

Disappointment flooded her, feeling like someone dropped a lead weight in her stomach. She'd really thought with Isaac knowing about Thane and everything that happened since, he wouldn't have a problem with Thane going with them. "What do you mean?" She raised her eyebrows. "Do we have a job there, too?"

"Maybe, but Langston wants me to bring you in for a physical." He took a deep breath. "She wants proof the injuries you sustained on the last job haven't left you unfit for duty." He shook his head and looked down at the floor between them. "I can't tell her no, Sunshine. I'm sorry."

_Fan-fucking-tastic._

Jasmine snorted, pinching the bridge of her nose. "She's trying to bench me, isn't she?"

She wondered if Leon would ever stop finding new ways to fuck her from beyond the grave. Why did it even matter? With all the shit they were learning about the Alliance mixing with Cerberus … and she'd already decided to finish her contract and resign when they had her locked up, anyway, so why did she really care if they did bench her? Sighing, she dropped her hand and looked up at her answer standing right in front of her, taking in the sympathetic look on the man's face.

"I don't know … maybe." He pushed off the counter, moving closer to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "But you're not in this alone, alright? She's not going to be able to take you off the roster for medical without at least two doctors saying you're unfit, and as your handler, my word will carry weight. If not with her, then her superiors."

"Sonofabitch." She clenched her jaw, rubbing her hand over her head, tearing strands of hair loose from her ponytail. Dropping her hand to slap against her thigh, she looked up and met Isaac's gaze. "I haven't even fully healed yet. How am I supposed to prove I'm still physically capable of performing my job duties?"

"I know, and the doctors will know it, too. It'll be taken into consideration, and they'll make their judgements based on the severity of the injuries sustained and your recovery progress to date. You've kept up with your exercises, yeah?" He lifted an eyebrow, waiting for her to nod before continuing, "I've been watching you move around the last couple of days, you're making good progress. The doctors aren't going to give Langston an easy out if that's what she's after."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Unless she's told them to say I'm unfit."

He shook his head, removing his hand from her shoulder. "Nah, it's not like that. She doesn't have sway with the doctors we use."

"No?" Voice drenched in skepticism, she arched an eyebrow.

He shook his head again and smiled, ducking down to meet her gaze head on. "No."

She sucked in a deep breath and let it out with a heavy sigh. "When do I have to be there?"

"Three days. We'll leave in two, go do this thing with Langston, and then we'll be heading to British Columbia. Our target is located somewhere in the vicinity of Penticton." He waved his hand, stepping back to lean against the counter again. "Theodus wasn't able to get me a more exact location, so we'll have to do some digging around."

* * *

"Well, I have to say you were right." Theodus raised his brow ridges and shook his head, leaning back in his chair to fold his hands over his abdomen. "I've been over the Enkindler's file three times, and I'm afraid it's only created more questions." Sucking in a deep breath, he turned his palms out. "I think it's safe to say that obviously whatever they did to her altered her personality and behavior, but I have no clue what the orb was or how they managed to do such a thing to her. Or why." He tapped his fingers on the back of his hand. "I trust you realize the turian in the photographs is Spectre Saren Arterius?"

"Indeed," Thane said, nodding his head. It was an … unfortunate truth, and one which caused him great concern. Naturally the presence of a Spectre in the midst of such terrors made him question whether the Council was somehow also involved.

"The asari in the video are Matriarch Benezia T'Soni and her acolyte, Shiala Monias." Theodus shifted forward, resting his arms on the desk again. "I've cross-referenced images of the synthetic, and I believe it was a geth."

"Yes, I've seen images of them before as well." Thane glanced over at Jasmine, taking in the way her skin seemed to glow in the sunlight coming in through the window as she sat reading from a datapad. Despite the distressing nature of the conversation, seeing her there brought him peace. He turned his attention back to Theodus. "I was unaware of the names of the asari, thank you. Perhaps it will be of some use."

Theodus shook his head and shrugged. "I'm sorry I don't have more to give you."

"Not at all." Thane offered him a smile, hoping to assure the other drell that he was disappointed in the lack of information  _to_  find and not Theodus' work. "This is a complicated matter, and I appreciate the time you have put into this for me."

"Of course." Theodus grinned. "So, how are you? How is Jasmine?"

Chuckling, Thane dipped his head. He realized he'd grown to look forward to the moments when their conversation shifted away from business, as they inevitably did. For years he'd worked with the man and always shut him down whenever he tried to make things even a little personal. It was just another sign of the way Jasmine had improved Thane's life. "We are both well. And you?"

"I'm … I'm good." Theodus hummed, turning his chair a little, gaze shifting away from Thane. "Business is good, and I have my health."

Jasmine set the datapad down and stood up. "Mmm. Then why does it sound like you're actually not good at all?" She crossed the floor to crawl up onto the bed next to Thane and curled in against his side.

Wrapping his arm around her, he smiled and leaned in to kiss her before turning his attention back to his omni-tool. It brought him great joy to have her there next to him while he spoke with Theodus. It felt like a declaration of their love to the rest of the galaxy … as much as either of them could afford in their profession. He wished she could stay by his side always.

Theodus flashed his teeth at Jasmine in a smile. "Why hello, beautiful woman. I wasn't aware you were in the room. I'm disappointed you're only now announcing yourself."

She snorted softly but grinned. "You two were discussing business, I didn't want to interrupt. Now, are you going to tell us how you're  _really_ doing or not?"

Theodus laughed, turning his attention to Thane. "She's very intuitive, isn't she?"

"Indeed." Thane smiled, rubbing his hand along her arm. He adored the way Jasmine always seemed able to pull people out of themselves; her soul shone so brightly, who could help but look when she called to them? "I've yet to see her intuition let her down."

Theodus glanced down at his hands for a moment before returning his gaze to Jasmine. "Alright. I'll tell you what's bothering me, but first, you must tell me something about yourself."

She arched an eyebrow. "Anything in particular you're fishing for?"

"Hmmm." He tapped his fingers on the desk, seeming to take his time to really make his inquiry count. "What's your full name?"

Pulling her head back as if in shock, she tilted it to the side and held up a hand. "Whoa, that's a pretty big question, Theodus."

Grinning, he asked, "Don't you trust me?"

"About as far as I can throw you," she said with a snort.

"You wound me." He splayed his hand out over his chest. "I give you my word, I will never give your name to another soul."

She looked at Thane, and he dipped his head. He believed Theodus would hold her name in confidence, should she choose to share it with him. Theodus was honorable and kept the privacy of all his clients, it was a point of pride as much as a matter of good business for him. Thane's refusal to engage in non-work related conversations with Theodus wasn't due to lack of trust but rather his own training and personal reserve. He'd allowed Theodus to learn his full name, though, even if he'd still insisted on only being called Krios. Perhaps it was time to let that one go as well.

Pursing her lips, she turned back to the screen. "Jasmine Isabell Shepard."

_Isabell … that's lovely._

Theodus grinned, spinning his chair back and forth a few times. "Jasmine Isabell Shepard. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

"Yeah, yeah." She scoffed and waved her hand, but Thane thought the flattery pleased her. "Your turn. What's up?"

Sucking in a deep breath, Theodus let it out in a rush and said, "I lost eight hundred thousand credits on a bad investment."

"Jesus fuck." She hissed through her teeth. "Ouch."

"That is unfortunate," Thane said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "But If I am not mistaken, you already have a plan to recoup your losses."

Theodus grinned. "Always."

* * *

"I wish you could come with me." Jasmine eased herself down onto Thane's lap, straddling him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"As do I, siha." Thane settled his hands on her hips, slipping his thumbs beneath the hem of her shirt and brushing them across her silken skin, savoring her warmth.

Leaning in, she kissed him, strawberry scented lip gloss coating his lips. "What will you do after I leave?"

"I thought I might reach out to one of my contacts." He hummed, sliding his hand a little further up on her waist, kneading gently as he brushed his thumb over her fresh scar. "I was offered a contract a few days ago, if they are still in need of my services, then I will accept."

Furrowing her brow, she tilted her head a little to the side. "You didn't tell me that you turned down a contract."

"I didn't think it was relevant," he said, lifting a brow ridge. He'd given Isaac his word that he would look after Jasmine, keep her safe while she healed until her handler could return to her. Not that he wouldn't have happily done so regardless, but of course he wouldn't take on a contract while caring for her.

"You turned down work to look after me?" She frowned and leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. "Shit, I'm sorry."

Thane chuckled, bringing one of his hands up to cup her face. "Jasmine, there's nothing for you to apologize for. I'm delighted to have had the chance to spend this time with you."

Threading her fingers through his crest, she pulled back enough to meet his gaze and grinned. "You're too good to me."

"That simply isn't possible," he said before turning to the sound of approach.

"You two are so adorable." Isaac leaned over the back of the couch to Thane's right, elbows pressed into the top of the cushion, fingers laced together.

Snorting, Jasmine turned to look at him. "Hey, Bossman."

"Hey, Sunshine." He grinned at her. "Do you feel up to going for a walk with me?" Gaze sliding to Thane, he added, "You can come, too, if you want."

"What about Avalina's traps?" She raised an eyebrow.

His grin widened. "Why do you think I want to go for a walk?"

Letting out a long groan, she asked, "This is a training thing, isn't it?"

Isaac bobbed his head rhythmically. "Get dressed, we're heading out in ten minutes."

"I should let Avalina know," Thane said, glancing between the two of them. "She monitors the traps."

"Sure." Isaac nodded and lifted an eyebrow. "So, you coming with us?"

Thane stroked his thumb over Jasmine's scar again. The thought of being away from her, especially when she'd be leaving him again so soon, left a heavy feeling in his chest. Besides, he didn't doubt Isaac's abilities to detect and avoid the traps, but the land was Thane's, and he'd feel more comfortable being there to assure they didn't get lost and Jasmine remained safe. "Ah. If you're certain you don't mind, then yes."

"I don't mind." Isaac shrugged and pushed himself upright.

Despite her groan of complaint, Thane felt the way Jasmine's muscles twitched and tightened, saw the excitement in her eyes. He knew she loved spending time with him, but he also knew she'd been anxious and growing restless while recovering from her injuries. He was pleased Isaac found something to occupy her, challenge her. She eased herself from his lap, giving him another quick kiss again in the process. He watched her until she disappeared into the bedroom and then opened his omni-tool. Isaac rounded the couch to sit down while Thane sent Avalina a message, letting her know they were going for a walk and intended to use her traps as field practice.

* * *

Jasmine draped her arms over Isaac's shoulders and leaned over his back, tucking her chin down between her arm and his neck. The feeling of the scratch of his stubble against her cheek made her flashback to her childhood for a moment, when her family was still a family, and her father would pick her up, twirl her in the air, and rub his face against hers. It left her feeling wistful and sad, making her huff. "I'm bored."

He chuckled, reaching up to ruffle her hair, the movement wafting his cologne up to tickle at her nose. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Entertain me." She tilted her head into his, softly slapping one of her hands against his chest.

He scoffed and tugged at her ponytail. "Isn't that your man's job?"

"He's busy," she said with a sigh and a pout.

"So am I." He held the datapad in his other hand up for her to see.

"Isaac," she whined, dragging his name out.

Laughing, he let go of her hair and patted her face. "Give me ten minutes to finish this, and then we'll do something."

"Thank you." She turned and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek, pulling another laugh from him.

Easing back upright, she made her way to the kitchen area and poured herself a glass of cold water from the refrigerator before sitting down at the table and letting her mind drift. Thane was in the bedroom, sitting at the desk going over the details for his next job. She knew if she really wanted his attention, he'd drop what he was doing and give it to her, but she didn't want to get in the way of his work anymore than she already had. She and Isaac would be leaving the next day, so she knew Thane would be focused solely on her  _all_  night long. She grinned, looking forward to their time together.

"Alright, Sunshine." Isaac stood from the couch, hitting a few keys on the datapad and switching it off before dropping it to the table. "Put some tennis shoes on, we're going outside."

"More traps?" She swallowed the rest of her water and left the table, putting her glass next to the sink.

"No, I'm going to teach you a few hand-to-hand techniques." He came over to the table and pressed his palms against the surface. "We'll move slow, take it easy."

"Awesome." She grinned and made her way to the bedroom door. "Give me a second."

Stepping inside, she met Thane's gaze when he looked up. She smiled at him, moving over to the desk to lean in and kiss him. "I'm going outside with Bossman."

"Shall I join you?" He raised a brow ridge, lifting a hand to stroke her cheek.

She shook her head and kissed him again. "Nah, stay here and do your thing. I love you."

"And I you." He smiled, dropping his hand from her face.

Jasmine grabbed some socks and her shoes from the closet and sat down on the edge of the bed. She felt Thane's gaze on her as she slid them on, and she glanced over at him, giving him a smile. His face seemed to light up, lips lifting up into the smile he reserved for her, the one telling her how amazed he felt every time he looked at her. She knew it well; she felt the same thing every time she looked at him.

Standing up again, she made her way back over to him and sat down sideways on his lap. He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist and opened his mouth to her when she kissed him. She slid her tongue along his and hummed, enticing him to follow when she retreated again. Grip tightening on her waist, he pulled her in closer, head tipping a little further as his tongue chased hers.

"You don't look bored to me."

She pulled away, glancing at the doorway with a grin, seeing Isaac leaning against the door frame. "Jealous, Bossman?"

He smirked and pushed away from the door. "Maybe. Are you coming?"

"Yeah." She gave Thane another chaste kiss. "Hold that thought," she whispered against his lips, "we'll pick this up later."

He chuckled, nipping at her lip. "Indeed."

Dragging her hand across his chest, she scraped her teeth over her lip and winked at him. He grinned at her, and she hopped off his lap and left the room. Isaac waited for her over by the opened front door, heading out when he saw her. She followed him outside, closing the door behind her and making her way down the stairs to join him in the yard.

* * *

She laid on her stomach, head turned to the side, with Thane kneeling over her thighs. Strong, warm hands slid along her back, rubbing oil into her skin, kneading her muscles. Closing her eyes, she let out a soft moan. "You're absolutely perfect, you know that?"

He chuckled, leaning over to nip her shoulder. "I was just thinking the same about you."

"Mmm. I am pretty perfect." Opening her eyes, she turned her head enough to look at him and grinned.

Laughing, he slid his hand up to the back of her neck, working his thumbs and fingers into the muscles along her spine. She turned her face to the bed, pressing her forehead into the mattress, letting out another moan. He was a magician, truly. His hands sought out every little knot, as if he knew exactly where they were all along. Pouring more warmed oil over her, he dragged a finger through the pool in the dip of her lower back, trailing the oil up over her spine, leaving goosebumps in his wake.

"You are more beautiful every time I look at you." Pressing his palms into the oil, he slid them up, pushing in deep as he made his way to her shoulder blades. "I am a better man for having known and loved you, siha."

She hummed, his sentimentality warming her heart. "I feel the same way about you."

"You feel like I've made you a better man?" he asked, a light, teasing quality to his tone.

She let out a bark of laughter. "Smartass."

"If I recall," he said, leaning in to scrape his teeth over the back of her neck, pulling a little gasp from her, "you love my ass."

She arched her back a little, feeling his chest press against her. "Damn right, I do." She grinned. "Nice and round and firm. You've got a great ass."

"Hmmm." He turned his hand, sliding it down between them, dipping into her panties to cup her ass and squeeze. "As do you." Nuzzling against her, he kissed her shoulder. "Roll over?"

She did as he asked when he shifted his weight off of her, and he kissed her, soft lips molding to hers. Bringing a hand up to his face, she slid her fingers over his frills, opening her mouth to him. Mint lingered on his tongue, making her mouth feel cool even as his warm hands worked to stir a heat inside of her, grazing over her breasts before trailing down her sides. She nipped at his lip, and he hummed, the sound throaty, hungry as his tongue delved back into her mouth.

He tore his mouth away from hers, making her whimper. Sitting up, he dipped his hand into the small bowl of oil sitting on the table before letting it drip between his fingers, drizzling over her chest and stomach. He pressed his palm to her sternum before sweeping it over her right breast, cupping and squeezing before gently pinching her nipple, and she sucked in a deep breath, arching her back. Fingers trailing down over her stomach, he swirled around her navel before moving back up to palm her other breast.

Smiling up at him, she reached over and dipped her own hand into the bowl before running her fingers along his arm and over his shoulder, massaging it into his scales, making them glisten in the moonlight. She loved the way he felt beneath her fingertips, the subtle rise and fall of each smooth scale as she passed over them, tight muscles coiling and stretching in her palm as he rubbed her abdomen. Giving her a soft purr, he leaned in and pressed his lips to the scar on her stomach before trailing his tongue over her skin, making her twitch and shiver. Dragging her oiled hand further up his arm, she crested over his shoulder, digging her fingers into the dense muscles of his neck and back.

Kissing, licking, and nipping, he made his way up her body, stopping to pull her nipple into his mouth. Moaning, she threaded her fingers through his crest, sliding them back and forth, spreading the oil over his scalp. She tilted her head back as he moved up, trailing kisses along her throat before scraping his teeth over her pulse, pulling another moan from her. Tongue dipping into the little notch at the base of her throat, Thane hummed and slid his hand back down her side to knead at her waist and hip.

"I love you, Jasmine," he whispered against her throat.

"I love you, too." She tugged at his crest, urging him up to meet her mouth.

He kissed her, the oil on his lips and tongue bittersweet and fragrant. Sweeping his fingers down over her thigh, he took his time, skimming along until he made his way back up to ghost his fingertips over the lace of her panties, making her tremble with anticipation. She cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb against his frills, coating them in oil. He pulled away from her, though, and moved down lower on the bed, dipping his hand back into the bowl. He dripped it over her thighs and down her legs before moving to kneel at the bottom of the bed. He wrapped his hands around one of her feet, digging the pads of his thumbs into the arch.

She chuckled and let out a little groan. "Come back."

"Patience, siha." He spent a few seconds longer with her left foot before settling it on his shoulder and moving to the right.

Humming, she closed her eyes and focused on the sensations. After putting her other foot on his opposite shoulder, his hands slid over her shins, spreading the drops of oil around before dipping under her legs to knead her calves. She groaned, her muscles falling slack and feeling pleasantly weak in his grasp. Edging up a little further on the bed, bending her knees in the process, he turned his head and nipped at her shin, giving her goosebumps.

He worked his way up to the underside of her thighs, squeezing, digging deep into the muscles but always staying just on the right side of it being painful. Despite the growing tension between her legs, the rest of her was starting to feel so relaxed, she thought she might just melt into the bed. Moving to the outer parts of her thighs, he scooted up a little closer, bending her legs a little further.

Taking his time, he worked at the muscles, making sure they were good and relaxed before shifting to the tops of her legs to do the same. He rubbed his thumbs just inside her hip bones before trailing his hands back down her legs, moving her feet from his shoulders to rest next to his legs. Applying gentle pressure, he spread her legs, letting them drop opened to the mattress. Starting at the knees, he massaged the inside of her thighs, painstakingly slow as he worked his way up.

Her breath caught in her throat, heat building between her legs making her slick and desperate to be touched. But still he took his time, moving slow enough to drive her mad, teasing her as his hands crawled closer and closer. Unable to help herself, she rolled her hips a little and let out a soft, needy whimper. He hummed but kept up his massage, kneading her inner thighs.

When at long last he reached the end, he rubbed his thumbs into her groin muscles, pulling and pushing at her center as he worked, making her moan and roll her hips. Sliding his hands up, skilfully avoiding touching her where she most wanted him to, he tucked his fingers into the hem of her panties and tugged them down. She lifted her ass, letting him drag them off completely, sliding them down her legs and tossing them aside.

His breath washed over her as he lowered himself between her legs, leaving her fluttering low in her abdomen. Scorching hot and wet, his tongue parted her, slipping along the edges before finally flicking over her clit, stealing her breath and making her shudder. She moaned, reaching down to brush her fingertips over his crest, only the slightest twinge of pain coming from her injuries. His mouth closed over her, sucking and licking, sending little shocks of ecstasy through her.

Fused digits slipped through her folds before sinking inside of her, and she arched her back, pressing her head into the pillows. She clenched around his hand, rocking her hips as he curled his fingers, rubbing circles against her inner walls. Easing his fingers back out of her, he rubbed them up and down, replacing his tongue with his fingers against her clit while he kissed the inside of her thigh. Dipping back inside of her, he brought his mouth back, tongue pressing flat against her clit before dragging upward. She moaned and trembled, feeling like he knew every atom in her body and intended to make love to each one.

The pressure was already building inside of her, calling her like the whisper of a cool summer night's breeze, enticing her to come outside and walk barefoot through the warm grass. Christ, she loved Thane and the things he made her feel, inside and out. His free hand wrapped under her leg, fingers curling over her hip, pulling her into his movements as his fingers slipped deeper and deeper inside of her. His tongue swirled around her clit, sliding up and down the bundle of nerves leading deeper into her body.

From hip to hip, everything in between tightened, a golden ball of burning energy settling in her pelvis. She moaned, pushing against him, and he responded by moving faster, knowing exactly what she needed. "Oh, God," she murmured.

She moved her hand from his crest to his hand on her hip, and he flipped his hand over, wrapping his fingers around hers. Tighter and tighter, she squeezed against him, bucking her hips as his tongue lapped at her, pushing her closer and closer to the edge until she felt like she wouldn't survive if he stopped. He thrust his fingers deeper inside of her and moaned against her, giving her the final push, and she came undone.

Crying out, she folded in on herself, shuddering as her insides fluttered and spasmed, sending waves of pleasure crashing through her. His fingers and tongue kept moving, pulling every last ounce of euphoria from her orgasm. She collapsed back on the bed, panting, little aftershocks still rocking her every few seconds.

He disappeared, letting cool air wash over her, but a few seconds later her was there again, the warmth of his body surrounding her. Eyes still closed, she reached out, arms wrapping around his back and tugged. His mouth closed over hers, and the taste of her own fluids on his tongue only made her want him even more. Sliding a hand along her thigh, he pulled her a little, adjusting her hips as he lined himself up. She lifted her hips, welcoming him inside as he pressed against her, spreading her as he eased inside.

Sucking a deep breath in through her nose, she brushed her tongue over his and pulled him in closer, wanting to feel his chest pressed against hers. He lowered himself to his elbows, carefully keeping his weight off her right side, and pushed the rest of the way inside of her, filling her so completely she didn't know where he ended and she began. Breaking the kiss, he nuzzled in against her neck, licking and nipping at her as he started to move within her. She hooked her ankles around the back of his thighs, pulling him into her as they moved together. The pace he set was slow and gentle, and she knew he intended to savor her completely.


	29. The Greater Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mellina and Lenat are original characters created by MizDirected. The HC presented here about biotic turian twins is primarily of MizDirected's creation.

**The Greater Good**

"Here's a gown. Just push this button here once you've changed and you're ready." The nurse set the gown down on the counter and pointed to a button on the wall. She turned to Isaac and said, "If you'd like to wait outside, sir, there are chairs just around the corner to your left."

Jasmine grabbed the hem of his jacket and whispered, "Stay with me?"

"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow.

She swallowed, stomach twisting into knots, and nodded. "Please?"

It'd been a long time since anything made her feel so nervous and needy, but just then she  _needed_  her friend by her side. Her ally. She hated it. It left her wanting to pull him closer and cower behind his back while at the same time shove him away and insist she could stand on her own two feet. Muscles tightened, yet felt weak and shaky at the same time.

The fate of her future would be decided in the doctor's office, one way or another. The only person who stood a chance of putting her more at ease than Isaac was Thane, and he was light-years away. Geoffrey might've been helpful, too, and although he lived  _much_ closer, he was no more able to be there with her than Thane. She might as well be on a deserted island with no one but Isaac to hold her hand.

The nurse hesitated, looking back and forth between them like she wanted to say something, probably make some argument about how inappropriate it'd be for Isaac to stay. She didn't say anything else, though. Lowering her gaze, she left the examination room, closing the door behind her.

Sitting down, Jasmine pulled off her shoes and glanced at Isaac. "Will I get to know what they're going to tell The Bitch, or do I have to just wait and see what happens?"

He shrugged, leaning against the wall. "They're your medical records, you have a right to them."

Standing again, she stripped off her shirt and pants. She glanced up to see him studying her scars, brow furrowed and a frown on his face. Looking down at herself, she ran her fingers over the knotted skin on her abdomen before glancing at him again. "What's wrong?" She actually thought the scars were kind of cool. Not that she wouldn't trade them in a heartbeat for never having gotten shot.

He looked up, meeting her gaze, mask of cool indifference slipping back over his face. "Nothing."

"Bullshit." She grabbed the gown and slipped it on. "Tie this for me?" she asked, turning around and moving her hair out of the way. She didn't hear him push away from the wall or cross the floor, but a couple of seconds later, she felt his fingers brush against her back as he gathered the strings.

"I hoped they wouldn't scar so bad," he said, voice soft, as he tied the gown.

She smiled and turned around when she felt him step away. "It's not so bad. Thane's not turned off by them, and I think they kind of make me look like a badass." Of course, she realized the scars put a damper on any jobs requiring her to wear slinky clothes and seduce a mark … but maybe she'd find some makeup or something to cover them.

Chuckling, he reached out and patted her cheek. "You  _are_  a badass, Sunshine."

"Thanks," she said, giving him a wide grin before pushing the button on the wall.

"Of course," he said, holding his hands out, "you're not as much of a badass as  _I_ am, but I'll get you there."

Snorting, she turned to climb up on the exam table. "Does that mean I'll be getting more scars to measure up to your collection?" she asked, watching him closely. She had a feeling  _his_  scars were really the root of the issue, but his expression gave nothing away.

"Not if I do my job right." He leaned against the wall again, arms crossed loosely over his chest.

A knock at the door signaled the arrival of the doctor, and she turned toward the door. "Come in."

The door opened, and a woman in a white lab coat walked in, a warm smile on her face. She closed the door behind her and turned her attention to Jasmine. "Ms. Shepard?"

"Yes." Jasmine nodded, feeling anxious and tense all over again.

Her gaze shifted to Isaac, using him as an anchor to keep her from saying 'fuck this' and jumping down off the table, bolting for the door. She'd never liked doctors. They always had a way of making her feel … inadequate. No matter how healthy, they always found  _something_  to complain about, something to tell her she needed to improve. Sure, when she went into the hospital with pneumonia at fourteen, telling her to eat more than once a day and get off drugs was  _probably_  good advice, but still ….

Holding out her hand, the doctor said, "I'm Dr. Ashcroft."

Jasmine shook the woman's hand and took a slow, deep breath, using her diaphragm to pull the air into her lungs to make it less obvious to the woman in front of her.

After flashing Jasmine a smile, Dr. Ashcroft turned to Isaac. "Are you Mr. Shepard?"

Smirking, he shook his head. "No, I'm her CO. Isaac Winter. She asked me to stay."

"Oh, I see." Dr. Ashcroft smiled again and held her hand out to Isaac. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Winter."

"Isaac, please." He pushed off the wall to shake her hand before slinking back to his chosen observation spot.

Jasmine made a mental note to ask him sometime why it seemed as if he didn't like using his last name. She forced a smile on her face when the doctor turned back around. "Should I lay down?"

"Yes, please." Dr. Ashcroft looked over a datapad for a second before asking, "We're evaluating injuries sustained to the right shoulder and the right side of your abdomen, caused by an assault rifle, is this correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jasmine said, easing back onto the exam table and taking another deep, calming breath.

* * *

Isaac navigated the shuttle over the mountain range. Down below, trees, grass, and wildflowers covered the landscape in beauty. Jasmine even spotted a black bear and a cougar along the way. Inside the shuttle, tension filled the air. She knew as well as he did that they were heading into unknown territory with very little information on the people they were going to meet. They didn't know if they'd be welcomed, turned away, or shot at on sight, but neither of them was willing to turn the shuttle back around and give up without trying.

"Dr. Ashcroft seemed pretty impressed with your recovery," Isaac said.

The sudden sound of his voice after hours of silence between the two of them felt jarring. She blinked, turning her head from the window to look at him. "Yeah, she said she's putting it in her report that she doesn't see any reason why I won't be able to return to active duty once the bone in my shoulder has finished healing." She'd already told him as much when they left the doctor's office, and she knew he hadn't forgotten. So, she figured he was probably just searching for something to put them both at ease.

"That's great." He bobbed his head. "Langston still might decide to send you in for a second opinion, but it's unlikely anyone would argue with Dr. Ashcroft's determination."

"You think so?" She raised an eyebrow. Never one to be especially optimistic, she didn't feel so sure Isaac was right, but she'd take whatever ray of hope he wanted to throw her way.

He nodded and glanced at her. "Definitely." Turning his attention back out the windshield, his brow furrowed, and he said, "Shit."

Head jerking around, she followed his gaze until she spotted a drone flying toward the shuttle. "Fuck." She reached behind her, pulling out her pistol and checking the thermal clip. "What do you want to do?"

_So much for scoping the place out before we go in. Damn it._

"Just … wait a minute." Isaac pulled out his own pistol, letting the shuttle drive itself, and checked it over. "Let's see what it's doing."

The drone approached the shuttle, but if it had weapons capabilities, it didn't engage them. Circling the shuttle, the drone reappeared in front of them, staying three meters or so in front as if acting as an escort. The question was, did whoever controlled the drone intend to make sure they arrived at their destination … or ensure they never made it there? Either way, the appearance of the drone made it safe to say their potential contact knew they were coming. Isaac already scanned satellite images of the mountain range, and the only structure in the area bigger than a picnic table—the only place they could reasonably be headed—was the stone cottage.

"Hold for now but be ready." He reholstered his pistol and slowed the shuttle a little, deactivating the autopilot to resume control of the vehicle.

They continued on, Isaac checking the coordinates every few seconds. The drone stayed in sight, keeping the same distance between itself and their shuttle, never straying off course. A couple of minutes later, the roof of the cabin came into sight. Dropping down into the clearing, the drone turned, hovering over the cabin as if to watch their descent.

Isaac glanced at Jasmine, and she sucked in a deep breath, nodding. He lowered the shuttle down into the yard. The door cracked open, and an older turian woman stepped outside, assault rifle held at the ready, aimed at the car. Jasmine tightened her grip on her pistol and sucked in a slow, deep breath, waiting for Isaac's word.

He sat there in silence, staring out the windshield at the turian for several, long seconds. "Put your gun away," he said softly. "I'll get out first, give her a chance to see I'm not holding a weapon, and then you get out slowly. Keep your hands where she can see them."

She gave him a quick jerk of her head in acknowledgment, flipped the safety on, and holstered her pistol. Another deep breath stilled her nerves as he opened his door, long legs leading the way out of the vehicle. She watched the turian intently, taking in every detail she could see from the distance. The particular way the turian stood, blocking the entrance with her body, angled only slightly towards the skycar, told Jasmine the woman's bondmate was inside and gave her a rough estimate of his location within the cabin. The tightness of the woman's mandibles made it clear their arrival wasn't welcome—even if the assault rifle in her hand didn't. It was her sure grip on the weapon, though, which told Jasmine the turian wouldn't hesitate to shoot, not even for half a second.

The woman watched as Isaac stepped out, rising to his full height, hands held out in front of him. Her gaze flicked back to the passenger seat of the skycar. "Now your friend."

Glancing back inside the car, Isaac nodded at her, so Jasmine sucked in a slow breath and opened her door. She itched to pull her pistol back out, not at all comfortable with the current dynamics of her situation. But, she did exactly as he'd told her to. She trusted him. Stepping out of the car, she made sure the turian saw her empty hands, and then she offered the woman a friendly smile.

"We just came to talk," Isaac said, his voice calm and sure. "We're hoping you can help us, give us some information on something, and we're more than willing to compensate you for that information and your time."

Mandibles flicking—a sign of agitation, if Jasmine wasn't mistaken—the turian glanced between Jasmine and Isaac for a moment. "Information on what?"

Jasmine glanced at Isaac, and he nodded at her, so she turned her attention back to the woman and said, "A human terrorist organization called Cerberus." She paused, taking note of the sudden, deathly still look of the turian. "Anything you can tell us about who they are, where they are … what we might be facing," she said, the last statement a bit of a gamble, but one she instantly knew paid off.

"You're going after Cerberus?" The turian lowered her assault rifle just a fraction, mandibles relaxing enough to flutter softly as she looked over Jasmine. Her gaze shifted to Isaac. "Or are you looking to join them?"

"Definitely not looking to join them, ma'am," Isaac shook his head. "Right now, all we're doing is gathering information and evidence on the organization."

_Evidence. Good choice of word, Bossman._

* * *

Thane watched the group of mixed species down below through his scope. The picture of the human woman—his primary target—did not do her justice. Nothing prepared him for just how much like Jasmine the woman looked in person. To say it gave him pause would be an understatement. Still, he wasn't foolish enough to allow such a coincidence to deter him from completing his contract.

The secondary target, a hanar, didn't particularly make the contract any easier for him, either. He'd killed hanar before, quite a few, but almost always under the orders of the Compact. Doing so as a freelancer, and without the security of being deep in his battle sleep, brought about a mild sense of guilt. It felt like a betrayal to the people who'd saved his species; a stark contrast to the way drell were taught to view and treat the hanar.

He would do as he must, though, and send the both of them to the sea. Their deaths would leave the world a brighter place; two fewer people in the galaxy intent on sowing hatred and contempt for those less fortunate than they. The two were high ranking members of a multi-species organization known as The Council for Reformation. The group espoused a belief that all public support services should be terminated, those who relied on the programs for food, shelter, medical care … should be left to either fend for themselves or die. It didn't matter to The Council for Reformation that the vast majority of the people using those same services weren't capable of fending for themselves. It disturbed him greatly to see hanar taking part in such an organization, considering the drell weren't able to save themselves when the hanar found Rakhana.

However, it wasn't their actions as members of The Council for Reformation which upset his client enough to hire his services. The human, Sophia Alvarez, embezzled credits from her employers in order to funnel them into The Council for Reformation. The hanar, Onarakin, sabotaged a freighter carrying goods, some of which were slated as donations to charitable organizations put in place to help colonists still establishing productive communities on newly inhabited planets. Both the freighter company and the merchant business Sophia worked for were owned and operated by the same corporation. A corporation with deep pockets and a strong desire to stay beneath the attention and concern of the law.

Waiting patiently, he counted the minutes until the meeting would come to an end, and the others present would take their leave, decreasing the chance of collateral damage and the opportunity to be seen. The longer he waited, though, watching Sophia through his scope, the more unnerved he became by her resemblance to Jasmine. And, of course, thinking of his siha only brought her face forefront, memories slipping through his guard to tease his mind, forcing him to push them away and dive deeper into his battle sleep. He prayed he would find his way back out of it once more.

At last, the meeting adjourned and the room began to clear. As expected, Sophia and Onarakin remained behind. Unexpectedly, so did a few others: two turians and an asari. He recognized them easily enough as other influential members of The Council for Reformation, having researched the group and its members prior to arriving at the meeting hall. It came as a break in their routine, and also something which appeared to surprise Sophia as her eyebrows lifted, lips parting ever so slightly.

She hesitated, lingering near the head of the table. "Did we have an appointment scheduled?" Taking a step closer, she smiled. "I don't remember seeing one on the books."

"No, Ms. Alvarez," the asari, Nemali T'Vas, said and waved her hand at the table. "Please, might we sit down and talk?"

"Oh," Sophia said, looking down at the table before meeting the asari's gaze again, "I've only got a few minutes but sure."

"Thank you." Nemali pulled out a chair, taking a seat as she glanced at the two turians.

Sevat Achamilius took a seat to Nemali's left while Dexius Aetas sat to her right. Neither spoke, and their gazes never left Sophia. Onarakin moved closer to the edge of the table, bioluminescence making his confusion and discomfort over the change of plans clear. Sophia pulled out the chair she'd vacated at the end of the meeting, sitting down once more.

She folded her hands on the table and glanced between the three sitting across from her. "What can I do for you?"

* * *

"Sorry, we don't get many visitors here. I'm afraid I don't really have anything to offer you aside from water." The turian woman had introduced herself as Mellina after lowering her weapon and inviting them inside.

"It's quite alright, your hospitality is appreciated either way." Isaac took the seat offered to him, and Jasmine sat down next to him, hands folded on top of the table.

"Allow me to introduce my bondmate, Lenat." Mellina held her hand out, gesturing at the male turian sitting at the dining room table.

Lenat's gaze shifted restlessly between Jasmine and Isaac, mandibles snapping back and forth against his jaw with each flick of his eyes. "And who might you be?"

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Isaac leaned forward just a hair. "My name is Ray and this is Ramona. We wanted to talk to you and your wife about Cerberus."

The man's mandibles stilled, his gaze locking on Isaac. "And what makes you think we know anything about this Cerberus?"

"We have a contact who provided us with minimal information about you and your wife as potential sources of information," Isaac said, spreading his hands open, palm up. "If he was mistaken, then I apologize, we don't wish to waste your time."

"They're looking for  _evidence_  against Cerberus, Lenat … I think we should help them." Mellina pulled out the chair, sitting down next to her bondmate and putting the gun on the table between them before settling her hand atop of his.

Flaring his mandibles, he looked at Mellina, gaze softening as he let out a soft chuff. "Are you sure this is wise?"

She hummed, mandibles fluttering softly. "No, but what do we have to lose? They've already found us; if they bring trouble with them, the damage is already done."

He rumbled, looking down at his bondmate's hand. "Perhaps you're right." Taking a deep breath, he turned his attention back to Isaac and Jasmine. "What is it you're looking for?"

"Anything at all you can tell us," Jasmine said, glancing between the couple and Isaac. Hope and excitement took root in her, leaving her almost salivating at the prospect of finally getting answers she could really sink her teeth into. "Anything at all."

Lenat hummed. "I first heard of Cerberus while investigating a series of missing people; all turian twins, all biotics." He flicked his mandibles.

"Biotic turian twins are … special, so this created quite a concern for the Hierarchy. He'd been working for the Council,  _unofficially_ , and he's a biotic twin himself, though his brother died at birth." Mellina pulled in a slow, deep breath, tightening her grip on her bondmate's hand. "So, it was only natural for him to want to know exactly what happened to those people."

"The Council and the Alliance alike declared Cerberus a terrorist organization." Humming, Lenat fluttered his mandible, a hint of pride coloring his subvocals as he said, "It took some time, but I finally located a facility of theirs on Gellix in the Arrae System."

"The Arrae System?" Isaac raised an eyebrow. "That's turian controlled space."

"Exactly. I believe you humans have an apt saying: 'adding insult to injury.'" Lenat flicked his mandibles, the irritation clear on his face and in his voice.

"I was also Lenat's handler, not just his bondmate. So, when he went missing, too, I was extremely motivated to find him." Mellina paused to smile at Lenat when he shifted his other hand to rest atop hers, sandwiching it between both of his. "We had been bonded four decades by that time, my mate an extension of myself, so I began to dig into both the collectors—who we originally suspected as being those responsible—and Cerberus. The Hierarchy and the Council refused to even acknowledge his existence let alone authorize a search for him. I traced Lenat to the Cerberus facility. What I saw in that place gives me nightmares and will for the rest of my life."

Hearing the turian mention the collectors sparked a different interest in Jasmine, knowing Thane looked into them himself, but it wasn't why she came there. She swallowed, gently clearing her throat. "What did you see?" she asked, her voice sounding a little hoarse.

"Oh dear, I forgot to get your water. Excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back." Before anyone could say anything, Mellina slipped her hand free from Lenat's and left the table.

With her gone, Lenat only watched them in silence, his mandibles fluttering softly from time to time. Jasmine offered him a warm smile, but it didn't seem to have much effect on the man. A moment later, the soft, shuffling sounds of Mellina's gait announced her return, a tray with glasses of water balanced on her hand. She smiled at them, easing the tray down on the table before picking up a glass. Holding Isaac's gaze, she took a sip and dipped her head, setting the glass in front of him before picking up another glass and doing the same for Jasmine.

Flicking her mandibles, she smirked, glancing at Isaac again as she sat the last two glasses in front of herself and Lenat. "So you know it's not poisoned." She chuckled, sitting down again. "I recognize another handler and their charge when I see one."

Isaac smiled, lifting the glass to his lips and took a small sip before setting it back down. "Thank you."

Mellina's gaze shifted to Jasmine, an expectant look filling her gaze and lifting her brow plates. Jasmine wasn't entirely sure she trusted the turian couple to drink something not poured right in front of her, but she knew if she didn't accept—especially after Isaac did—it would not only be an insult, but it'd shut down their conversation. She wanted answers. Smiling, she brought the glass to her mouth and took a drink before setting it back down.

Mandibles fluttering, Mellina let out a soft, happy sounding trill before she asked. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes, Gellix." Turning to her husband, sadness filled her eyes, and she let out a soft sigh. "Cerberus nearly killed Lenat." She took his hand in hers again before turning her attention back to Jasmine and Isaac. "They did kill a great many other turians, salarians, asari … people of every species, no more than their own. I rescued as many as I could, shooting my way through, but I'm certain it isn't their only facility. They are searching for something with a will and ruthlessness I can only call diabolical."

"What were they doing to the people they held there?" Jasmine asked, gaze shifting between the two turians before falling on Lenat. "I'm so sorry. I'm sure this must be difficult for you, and I hate to make you relive whatever happened to you in that place, but we'd really appreciate as much detail as you can provide."

Lenat flared his mandibles, letting out a low rumble. "Torture. There really isn't any other word for it. Though, if you asked them, they'd tell you they were doing experiments for the greater good of humanity." Picking up his glass of water, he took a long, slow drink before setting it back down again. "They performed living autopsies on some. Implanted others with cybernetics before putting them through rigorous testing, attempting to increase strength, speed, stamina … you name it. Some of us were injected with a variety of drugs … to create or suppress biotics, to create false immunities to toxins … Spirits only know what else."

Rumbling again, he looked down at his bondmate's hand. He fell silent for a long time, long enough for Jasmine to start to wonder if he intended to speak again. She glanced at Isaac, but his gaze stayed steady on the older turian. After a stretch of several minutes, Mellina cooed softly, and Lenat met her gaze. She smiled, mandibles twitching and nodded her head.

Lenat took a deep breath, looking back at Jasmine. "Turian twins are a rarity, biotic twins even more so. A sort of bond forms between us, fueled by our biotics. It starts shortly after conception and only grows stronger as we develop within our mothers. By the time we are born, we are more or less quantumly entangled, emotionally speaking. Completely empathic with one another." He hummed, gaze flicking between Jasmine and Isaac. "As you can imagine, this makes us especially deadly on the battlefield, and quite an asset to any cabal unit."

"Cerberus wanted to understand not only  _how_  this occurs with turians, but how to harness this trait so it can be induced in humans." Mellina let out a harsh chuff, shaking her head. "Nevermind we are a completely different species with different biologies and evolutionary traits."

Clearing his throat, Lenat drew Jasmine's attention back to him. "Because my brother died at birth, our entanglement was broken. For most, when one twin dies, the survivor's biotics go out of control, either killing the turian or driving them insane. Some would say I am lucky in this because the bond was not yet so strong and my brain still growing." His gaze switched to Isaac and held steady on him. "But it's left me … open to picking up the emotions of others, specifically other biotics."

Mellina's gaze drifted to Isaac, mandibles still and eyes widening a hair as understanding seemed to take hold. Jasmine watched Isaac out of the corner of her eye, hesitant to look at him, too and confirm anything in doing so. Without a word, Isaac held out a hand, palm up, letting his biotics flare to life over his fingertips before extinguishing them once again. Mellina's hand started to move toward the assault rifle, triggering Jasmine's instinct to reach for her own pistol.

"Stand down," Isaac held his hand up toward Jasmine.

Sucking in a deep breath, she put both of her hands back on the table, balled into fists. Her heart beat against her sternum, adrenaline flooding her system. Everything in her told her to draw her weapon and remove the threat before the threat removed her. The fraction of a second seemed to last for an eternity as she watched the woman's hand continue to her assault rifle.

Lenat reached across, setting his hand down on Mellina's, stopping her from wrapping her fingers around the weapon. "He's not here to cause trouble, Mellina. Listening to this has caused him anger and grief, not a hint of greed. He's good at keeping his emotions under wraps, I can't smell it on him, but I can feel it."

* * *

At last the impromptu meeting came to an end, leaving Sophia and Onarakin alone. Thane waited a moment longer just to be certain there would be no more interruptions before lining up his laser dot with the back of Sophia's head. He took a breath, finger caressing the trigger on his exhale, and the woman fell. Onarakin turned toward the noise of her collapse, and Thane shifted, accommodating the movements of the hanar toward his human companion. Another caress, and the hanar, too, died.

Collapsing his sniper rifle, he secured it on his back and stood. He clasped his hands in front of his face and closed his eyes.

_Kalahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand—Kalahira, wash away my sins. I have taken lives which were not mine to claim, yet I am but your servant. Kalahira, guide these souls to the distant shore of the infinite spirit as your brother, the Lord of Hunters, guides my hand and your sister, the Goddess of Motherhood and Protection, guides my heart. When my time comes—as it must for all—take me into your embrace and deliver me to your shores, Kalahira._

He turned and walked away.

* * *

"So, are we going to Gellix?" Jasmine asked, taking a seat on the edge of one of the two beds in the hotel room they'd decided to share.

After talking with Mellina and Lenat, her head hurt from overthinking and brooding. The things the couple talked about witnessing in the Cerberus facility made her want to vomit and go blow the whole place up. What kind of sick fucking assholes performed autopsies on living people?

Isaac took them into Penticton, saying he needed to make some calls and think about their next move. The turian couple provided them with the coordinates to the Cerberus facility on Gellix, but they both agreed it was unlikely Cerberus remained at the facility after Lenat's escape. Still, there might be something there; some scrap of evidence, a name, location, anything little thing might help.

Unbuttoning his jacket, Isaac hung it up in the closet before turning back to look at her. "I think we might." Sucking in a deep breath, he started to work unbuttoning his shirt. "You know this will be dangerous, though. If we go to Gellix, if there is still a Cerberus presence there, then there's a good chance we'll be putting targets on our heads." Hanging up his shirt, he glanced over his shoulder. "Are you sure this is something you want to do, Sunshine?"

She lowered her gaze to the black, white, and blue swirls of the bedspread on the opposite bed. Was she sure? Looking into a group as dangerous as Cerberus appeared—one that might even be operating under the protection of the Alliance—did more than put a target on  _her_  head if things went sideways. There were people in her life whom she loved, people enemies might easily decide to target as a means to get to her.

Closing her eyes, she pulled up the faces of those most vulnerable … Rift, Samantha, Angela, Jessica, Karin, and even Geoffry. He might be Alliance trained, but he wouldn't stand a chance against a professional assassin. Especially if he had no clue it was coming. And Kolyat, dear God, she loved Kolyat, too. Although she supposed it was quite a stretch to think anyone would go after Kolyat to get to her. There was Mouse and the other duct rats to consider, as well, but again … what ties to them could Cerberus possibly find?

_Rift._

"Sunshine?" Isaac's voice came from right in front of her, soft and concerned, and then the bed dipped next to her. "You don't have to do this, Jasmine. You don't have to be involved in any of this."

Opening her eyes, she turned her head and looked at him, studying the sincerity she found in his dark brown eyes. "I'm already involved, but it's not  _me_ I'm worried about."

He gave her a slow nod of his head before wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his side. "I can't make the call for you, but nothing's set in stone yet. Take some time, think about it. I've got some other things I want to do while we're on Earth, so we're not going  _anywhere_  right away."


	30. Like a Peasant

**Like a Peasant**

"Wait … didn't you say you're from Seattle?" Jasmine glanced at Isaac, raising an eyebrow.

He smirked. "I did."

"So …." She trailed off, welcoming him to fill in the rest, though for some reason she thought she already knew the answer. And it shocked the hell out of her.

"We're going to my parents' house," he said, glancing her way.

She sat there staring at him for a moment, fully aware the look of surprise on her face made her look like a moron. "Are you fucking serious?"

He laughed, the sound almost deafeningly loud in the shuttle. "I am."

"Wow." Blinking, she fell silent for a few seconds. "I don't even—I don't know what to say."

"That's a first." Smirking, he glanced her way again before turning his attention back to the shuttle's navigation systems.

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Shut up. This is a really big deal, and you know it."

"I do. And, you're the only person I've ever brought home since joining the Phantoms." He turned his head to look at her, eyes dead serious when he said, "If you ever make me regret it, I'll kill you. It'll mess me up to do it, Sunshine, but they're my family."

She expected nothing less but having him say it straight to her face, not even a hint of hesitation in his eyes, stung. Maybe scared her a little, too. Still, the fact he was even willing to let her anywhere near his family spoke volumes about how much he'd come to trust her, and she'd damn sure do her best to  _never_ do anything to make him regret the decision.

It was more or less a sacred act in the assassin culture. The closest she ever came to deliberately merging her two worlds was introducing Thane the day Geoffrey took Rift home and then letting Leon say hello to Rift over vidcall on Illium. She killed Leon, so she never needed to worry about him hurting anyone she loved, and now Thane  _was_  someone she loved.

Licking her lips, she nodded. "Of course." She held his gaze until he turned his attention back to navigating. "Not that I'm complaining, but  _why_  are we going to your parents' house?"

Glancing at her again, he took a deep breath and said, "Because this may be the last chance I get to see them if things go bad with this Cerberus thing, and I need to warn my father. I promised him if I ever thought I might be getting in too deep I'd let him know. Give him the chance to increase security at home … and figure out how to break the news to the rest of my family if I get killed."

The thought of him dying—especially over the Cerberus crap  _she_  brought to the table—twisted at her heart, making it painful to breathe for a second. She wanted to tell him to forget she ever said anything about Cerberus, tell him he didn't need to be involved the same as he told her back in Penticton, but she knew it'd only insult him. She was his subordinate, after all, and he made a commitment to see it through, if for no other reason than to protect Jasmine.

At a loss as to what else to say, she finally asked, "Your family knows you're a Phantom?"

He bobbed his head. "Sort of. Most of them just know I do really dangerous, classified work within the Alliance, and I can't tell them anything more specific. My dad knows, though. I didn't tell him, but he's got enough money and friends in high enough places …."

"Gotcha." She hummed, tapping her nails on the door a few times. "So, who are you going to tell them I am?"

He pursed his lips. "What would you like me to tell them?"

She thought about it for a few seconds and then shrugged. "I don't care, whatever you're comfortable with. They're your family, and I  _guess_  I trust you. Just give me a heads up so I know what to expect."

"You  _guess_?" He looked at her, eyebrows raised to comical heights, and she grinned. "Then I'll just tell them the truth: I'm your CO."

"Okay. Anything I should know about your family before we get there?" She snorted, cocking an eyebrow. "Other than the fact they're filthy rich, and I'm going to feel like a complete peasant around them?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "You don't feel like a peasant around me, do you?"

"I mean …" She dragged out the word, letting it crackle in her throat. "… sometimes, kind of."

He looked at her, studying her face for a moment before shaking his head. "Don't. Credits don't make me any better than you, Jasmine. They don't make me any better than anyone."

* * *

She stared up at the mansion sprawled out in front of her—and yes, regardless of what Isaac said, the damn place looked like a fucking  _mansion_ —a sick feeling weighing heavily in her stomach. It wasn't the nicest place she'd ever seen, of course, but she meant to go in there to meet her handler's family, not kill them. Jasmine Shepard, an orphaned girl who more or less raised herself on the streets, addicted to red sand, stealing to eat, fighting to survive … not some alias she'd been assigned for a job.

"Do I need to drag you out of there and throw you over my shoulder?" Isaac asked, leaning into the opened, driver's side door.

Tearing her gaze away from the 'house', she glanced at him and snorted. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She opened her door, taking a deep breath as she stepped outside, gravel crunching under her feet.

They only made it halfway up the cobblestone path leading to the house before the door opened and a young woman with the same, brilliant smile as Isaac came running outside. She made a beeline down the stairs straight for Isaac, jumping into his arms when she reached him. He laughed, lifting her from the ground and spinning her around before setting her down again.

Pulling back to look Isaac up and down, she smiled before glancing Jasmine's way. "You finally brought a girl home. Daddy's going have a heart attack."

Sucking his teeth, he threw his arm around the woman—the family resemblance unmistakeable—and pulled her in against his side. "Annabelle," he said, glancing at Jasmine, eyebrow ticking up just enough for her to catch the question behind it and nod in answer, "this is Jasmine. We work together. I'm her CO, so maybe don't embarrass me too much, alright?"

Slapping his chest, Annabelle scoffed. "Please, you embarrass yourself enough as it is." She turned her smile on Jasmine, holding out a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jasmine shook her hand, offering her a warm smile. "You, too."

And just like that, Annabelle seemed to dismiss Jasmine completely. Turning her attention back to her brother, she started tugging him toward the door. "Mom is going to be so happy to see you. We weren't expecting you, why didn't you call ahead?" She waved her hand, continuing on with her rapid-fire monologue, "Oh, you know what, nevermind. I'm just glad you're here. I have something I want to show you. Did you know Rachel and Delmar are engaged? Wait, have you even  _met_  Delmar? I don't think you have. I think the last boyfriend of Rachel's you met was Hamilton. Oh my God, I'm  _so_  glad she dumped him."

"Annabelle, stop talking your brother's ear off and let them get inside!" An older woman, the image of poise and grace and far more credits than Jasmine could ever hope to see in her lifetime, appeared in the doorway. Her eyes sparkled, a smile warming her face.

"Hey, Momma," Isaac said, breaking away from his sister to rush up the steps to pull his mother into an embrace.

Annabelle snickered, moving in closer to Jasmine as they reached the bottom of the stairs. She leaned in a little, her voice low and conspiratorial when she said, "He always has been a momma's boy."

Jasmine chuckled, glancing at the woman—judging her to be in her early twenties—and lifted an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Girl, yes." Annabelle let out a soft scoff, pursing her lips all the way out and up the same way Jasmine saw Isaac do on occasion. She waved her hand dismissively. "That man would lose his mind completely if something ever happened to her."

Swallowing against the knot in her throat and the images of her own mother's lifeless body lying on the bathroom floor, Jasmine didn't really know how to respond. So, she didn't say anything at all, only offered the woman a smile. By the time they reached the top of the stairs, Isaac already released his mother and turned back to face them, a peaceful smile on his face. His mother watched Jasmine, and if Jasmine expected to see some form of judgment in the woman's gaze, she was wrong. She found only joy and curiosity.

"Momma, this is Jasmine." He held his hand out to her, waving her closer. "Jasmine, this is my mother, Camilla."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Winter," Jasmine said, holding out her hand.

"The pleasure is mine, dear, but please, call me Camilla." Her hand felt delicate, but somehow, her handshake was still firm. "Please, come inside." She stepped back, sweeping her hand in toward the house.

Glancing inside and seeing a pristine, marbled foyer, Jasmine hesitated. Isaac put his hand on the small of her back and gave her a little nudge. She looked up at him, and he smiled, nodding his head toward the door. Suppressing a groan, she stepped inside, following Camilla as she turned into the house.

"You must stay for dinner, Isaac." Camilla waved a hand, turning her head a little toward him but not enough to actually look at Isaac. "Your father will be home in about an hour."

"I'd planned on it." He grinned glancing down at Jasmine.

"Of course you did," Annabelle said, laughing and bumping her shoulder against him.

* * *

"What does your family do, Jasmine?" Isaac's father, Adrian, asked as he cut into his steak.

"Pops," Isaac said before she could respond, shaking his head. "Don't. Please, just let her eat."

"What?" Adrian blinked, the confusion in his eyes giving him an air of innocence despite the slight challenge to his voice. "It's a reasonable question."

"Adrian, dear," Camilla said, bringing her napkin up to dab at the corners of her mouth, "let's not make our guest uncomfortable." Tilting her head, she gave him a placating smile.

"I'm not making her uncomfortable," Adrian turned his gaze on Jasmine. "Am I, Jasmine?" He smiled at her, and although it seemed welcoming enough, something about it left her on edge, making her feel like she needed to salute the man.

_Yes. Jesus Christ, yes._

Using her smile as armor—both to protect herself from the man's scrutiny and her heart—Jasmine sat her fork and knife down on the edge of her plate and wrapped her fingers around the stem of her wine glass. "Not at all." She lifted her wine glass, taking a sip before gently clearing her throat. "I have no family left, sir."

Silence lingered for several long seconds, no one at the table even so much as scraping their forks across their plates. All eyes were on her, and she fought like hell to keep her emotions under control.

"Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry to hear," Camilla said, voice dripping with unwelcomed pity.

"Thank you." Jasmine brought her wine glass to her lips again, taking a small sip despite wanting to drain the glass, refill it, and drain it again.

Adrian cleared his throat, lowering his gaze just enough he no longer looked into her eyes. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to cause any offense."

She set her wine glass down, picking up her fork and knife, turning her attention back to her plate. "There's no need to apologize."

Things were relatively quiet for a couple more minutes, only the sounds of eating to fill the air. Then, Annabelle asked, "Where are you from?"

"Oh, um," Jasmine said, biting back the ingrained urge to lie, "I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, but I've traveled around quite a bit."

* * *

Somehow, Camilla managed to convince Isaac it'd be a good idea for them to spend a couple of days at the Winter residence. His other sister and her fiancé were coming by to see Isaac the next day, and Annabelle just  _had_  to have Isaac meet her new girlfriend, but Evie couldn't come by until the day after next. Jasmine didn't exactly feel thrilled about it, but she admitted the Winter family did seem pretty nice, all things considered. It wasn't their fault she felt like a fish out of water in their presence.

Camilla told her to make herself at home, and Isaac went off somewhere to talk to his father, so she decided to look around a little. Maybe she'd relax once she knew where all the exits were located. All the hiding spots. So far, she'd found four exits on the ground floors, not counting the plethora of windows. Damn near every room she entered held at least one closet, many had two. She'd found a couple of crawl spaces as well. She hadn't even made her way to the second floor yet, let alone the third.

She stopped, glancing around her when she heard Isaac's muffled voice coming from behind closed, double doors. No one else was around, so she made her way a little closer, head cocked to the side as she strained to listen. But then, guilt washed over her, weighing heavily on her shoulders and making her face flush. Was she seriously spying on Isaac? He'd given her no reason to mistrust him, in fact, quite the opposite. She shouldn't be invading his privacy.

She turned on her heel, just about to walk away when the door opened. Spinning around, she found herself face to face with a tear-stained Isaac. Her breath caught in her throat, stomach twisting into knots, chest tightening. She stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, instinctively taking a step closer to her friend, reaching her hand out to him. "Isaac … what's wrong?"

He stopped in his tracks the moment he saw her, lips parted but nothing coming out. Lifting a hand to his face, he wiped at his eyes, visibly fighting to pull himself together. "Sunshine," he said, glancing back at the opened door.

Feeling dazed and confused, she followed his gaze. Adrian stood inside what appeared to be a study, his back to the door, drink in hand. The tense set of his shoulders told Jasmine whatever upset Isaac, bothered Adrian, too. Turning around, Isaac slid the study doors closed before facing her again.

Pulling a smile on his face, he wiped his eyes again and draped his arm over her shoulders, turning her around. "How long were you out here?"

"A few seconds," she said, scraping her teeth over her lip and looking up at him, "just long enough to make out your voice but not what you were saying."

"Good." He took a deep breath, letting it seep back out of him. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. Just old family crap that never seems to end," he said, leading her down the hall.

She wrapped her arm around his waist. "Isaac … you get you're not  _just_  my handler, right? I consider you a friend, too. Maybe it's not professional, but considering the crap we're getting ourselves into …."

"Yeah." He bobbed his head, lifting his forearm to rest his hand on her head, pulling her in against him. "Nothing says we can't be friends, and I wouldn't have it any other way. You should know that about me by now."

"I do … which is why  _you_  should know by now  _I'm_  not going to ignore a friend who's hurting. I'm not saying you  _have_  to tell me what's going on," she said, softening her voice, "but I'd like for you to."

Slowing his steps, he looked down at her, expression giving nothing away as he searched her face. Without a word, he turned her to the right down another hall, leading her back toward the guest room she'd been given for their stay. She let him guide her without comment, waiting to see if he intended to take her up on the offer or not; as they said, the ball was in his court.

Reaching her room, he dropped his arm from her and opened her door, nodding his head inside. She stepped in, and he followed her, closing the door behind them. Moving to the bed, she sat down on the edge and watched him pace. After a minute, he grabbed a wicker chair and pulled it over, setting it down in front of her and taking a seat.

Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees and threaded his fingers together. "This is new for me. I'm used to getting others to talk to me, not so much talking to others." He waggled his head back and forth a little. "At least not about the really personal stuff." Sighing, he rubbed his hand over his face and glanced at the floor. "But … maybe it'll help. If nothing else, getting an outside opinion would be nice. Especially from someone who lives the same life I do." He looked up at her, seeming to wait for her to give him some response.

She tilted her head a little and nodded. "Sure. I'm listening, tell me what's going on."

He licked his lips, nodding and rubbing his hand over his face again. "My dad wants me to get married and have children, you know, carry on the family name. He doesn't care I'm gay, it's not like that … he knows there are other ways for me to have kids. But he doesn't get I'm devoted to my career, and I can't raise kids while doing this kind of work." He turned his hands palm out, gaze searching hers, an almost desperate quality to the movements of his eyes. "I just can't. Besides, I don't even have time for a real relationship, let alone a marriage. You know? He doesn't get it, though. Or care. I'm not sure which. All he can see is that I'm his only son, and it's my duty to carry on the family name. It's all he cares about, the goddamned family name."

_Ah. Well, I guess that answers my question about why you don't like using your last name._

Scooting a little closer, she held a hand out to him, grinning at his exasperated huff and chuckle as he shook his head and slapped his palm down on hers. She closed her fingers around his hand and squeezed. "Let me ask you a question: your job aside, do  _you_  want to be married and have children?"

He looked down at their hands, brows furrowed. Letting the silence stretch for a few seconds first, he said, "You know … no one's ever bothered to ask me that before." Meeting her gaze again, he took a deep breath. "I think … I think there's a part of me that does, but I love my job, Jasmine. I love the Phantoms under my charge. You guys are like family to me. I can't see walking away from you guys any more than I can see putting a kid in danger by bringing them into this world."

"Have you explained it to your father like this?" She raised an eyebrow, squeezing his hand again.

"I—shit." He dropped his head, letting it hang between his shoulders. "No, I guess I haven't. Not exactly." Looking back up again, he met her gaze, a spark of hope dancing in his eyes. "Do you think it'd really make a difference?"

She lifted her shoulders a little. "I don't know, but the better question is, do you think it'll make it worse? If not, then what do you have to lose?"

He stared at her for a moment, a soft smile spreading across his face. Dropping her hand, he stood up and leaned over, kissing the top of her head. "Thanks, Sunshine."

She didn't really think she'd done much to help, but he definitely seemed more composed, his shoulders a lot less tense as he left her room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Rachel looked like a younger version of her mother, every bit as elegant and beautiful. She wore her hair twisted back on top of her head, and an  _actual_  pearl necklace complemented her sedate, yet sleek, pants suit. Jasmine couldn't help but smirk as she watched Rachel and Annabelle hug, the two women contrasting in their 'refinement' and 'style'. Annabelle wasn't unrefined, by any means, but she seemed to prefer tight blue jeans and cute little tennis shoes with her colorful blouses. The only jewelry Jasmine saw her wear so far was a pair of gold hoop earrings, and she let her hair trail down her back in a loose braid. It really wasn't hard for Jasmine to see why she reminded Isaac of Annabelle.

Letting go of Annabelle, Rachel turned, a lovely smile on her face and opened her arms to Isaac. "It's so good to see you."

Grinning, he stepped into her embrace, kissing her on the cheek. "You, too. You're looking really good, Rachel." He glanced at the man lingering in the background, hands in his pockets. "So, what's this I hear about a fiancé?"

Rachel let out a light, musical laugh and turned toward the man who must be Delmar. "Darling, come meet my brother." She stepped back, wrapping her arm around the man's waist when he moved closer. "Delmar, this is Isaac. Isaac, this is my fiancé, Delmar Jackson."

Delmar held out his free hand, shaking Isaac's. "It's nice to finally meet you. Rachel speaks highly of you."

"Does she now?" Isaac chuckled. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"Oh yes," Delmar said, letting his hand drop back to his side before slipping it into his pocket. "And she tells me you're in the Alliance?"

Bobbing his head, Isaac loosely crossed his arms. "That's right." He turned to look at Jasmine, jerking his head toward his sister. "Let me introduce the two of you to a friend of mine. This is Jasmine, we work together."

Smiling, Jasmine stepped forward and held her hand out to Rachel. "Hello, it's nice to meet you." She shifted to shake Delmar's hand when Rachel let it go. "And you, as well."

"And now that everybody knows everybody else," Annabelle said, a grin on her face, "we should go or we're going to miss our reservation."

Jasmine sincerely hoped whatever place the Winter family planned for lunch didn't turn out to be super expensive. After paying Avalina's fees, credits were tight. Ushered out of the house, she tried to remember her account balance, not wanting to be obvious and check it ahead of time.

"You two should ride with me," Annabelle said, nudging her brother.

Isaac looked down at Jasmine, and she shrugged. Turning his attention back to his sister, he bobbed his head. "Alright, but if you crash and we die, I'll haunt you."

Annabelle laughed, stepping away from them. "I'll bring my skycar around."

"Stop thinking about credits, Sunshine," Isaac whispered, leaning down closer to her. "They'll be paying, and if you refuse, they'll take it as an insult."

She huffed, glancing up at him. "I wasn't thinking about credits."

Smirking, he shook his head. "Liar."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes but let a smile grace her lips.

He chuckled but didn't say anything else. A moment later, Annabelle returned and the doors to her skycar opened. Jasmine insisted Isaac sit up front with his sister and climbed in the back. She listened to them laugh and joke, reminiscing about Annabelle's childhood as they made their way to the restaurant. It gave her a bittersweet feeling; she loved hearing Isaac sound so happy, but it reminded her so much of all the things she never really had.

It took them about twenty minutes to get to the restaurant, a place called  _A Taste of France_. A relief of the Paris skyline, including the Eiffel Tower, decorated the sandstone building. Guys in tuxedos manned the doors, holding them open for finely dressed guests. Jasmine sucked in a deep breath and climbed out of the skycar when Annabelle stopped. A valet slid into the driver's seat once everyone got out, closing the doors and lifting the skycar back into the air.

A moment later, Adrian and Camilla arrived, Rachel and Delmar a few seconds behind them. Annabelle slipped her arm through Isaac's, and he crooked his other elbow out to Jasmine. She chuckled, looping her arm around his, the gesture somehow helping her to relax. He grinned down at her and led them inside.

The place looked damn nice inside, chandeliers hanging down over white tablecloth covered tables. Fancy art with a French theme covered the walls, and a fountain filled the floor in the center of the building. Again, not the most impressive place she'd ever seen, but there was something especially discomforting about going in there as herself. She also felt fairly certain the Winters could afford to frequent someplace a hell of a lot fancier if they'd wanted. It made her wonder if they'd chosen something more downscale for her sake. Her grip on Isaac must've tightened, because he shifted his arm a hair, drawing her in a little closer.

Adrian stepped forward, clearing the reservations with the hostess, and they were lead to their table. Isaac pulled the chair out for her, earning him a raised eyebrow, but he just smirked and waited for her to take the seat before doing the same for Annabelle. Jasmine glanced around and realized Delmar held a chair out for Rachel, and Adrian did the same for Camilla. It made Isaac's behavior make a hell of a lot more sense.

There was just no way she'd survive lunch without wrapping herself in an alias mindset. It'd be a delicate balance, thinking like Ariel Masters—millionaire heiress to Masters Enterprise, a corporation which designed drive cores for civilian ships and the alias Jasmine used to assassinate Mitchell Hassam—but responding as Jasmine Shepard; a former street rat, recovered drug addict, and the subordinate of one Isaac Winter.

Feeling Ariel roll over her, Jasmine's spine stiffened a little, shoulders rolling back, chin tilted up a hair. She belonged in  _A Taste of France_  and places with far more class. She  _deserved_  to have her chair pulled out for her, and be waited on by men in tuxes with French accents. She wouldn't even look at the prices in the menu, they were below her notice, regardless of who planned to pay.

"How long have you served in the Alliance, Jasmine?" Rachel asked, picking up her menu but keeping her gaze on Jasmine.

"Nearly eight years. I joined a little after my eighteenth birthday." Jasmine picked up her own menu, flipping it open, but held Rachel's gaze, waiting for her to either choose to continue the conversation or let it end.

"Oh, so does that mean you just had a birthday or one coming up?" Annabelle asked, drawing Jasmine's attention to her.

Nodding, Jasmine said, "One coming up, April eleventh."

"That's only a couple of months away!" Annabelle grinned, a sparkle in her eyes. "Happy early birthday!"

Jasmine smiled, letting out a soft chuckle. "Thanks, Annabelle."

* * *

The music thumped loud enough she felt it in her bones. Blue, red, and purple lights flashed and swirled around the dance floor. Alcohol flooded her system, dulling her senses and putting her at ease. She glanced to her left, spotting Isaac dancing with another man, hands on the stranger's hips as he pulled him in closer. Lifting his arms up, the man draped his wrists over Isaac's shoulders, a seductive smile curving his lips. He looked cute, lean like Isaac, but not quite as tall. The electric blue streaks in his black hair really complemented his olive complexion.

Annabelle appeared in front of Jasmine, lips moving, but Jasmine couldn't hear her over the bass. Jasmine shook her head, cupping her hand around her ear. Annabelle grinned, moving closer and settling her hands on Jasmine's shoulders, the unexpected contact making her tense a little.

Leaning in, Annabelle put her mouth next to Jasmine's ear. "Do you want to dance?"

Turning her head enough for the other woman to hear her, Jasmine responded, "Sure, but I'm recovering from gunshot wounds so I may not be able to stay out there for long."

Pulling back enough to meet Jasmine's gaze, Annabelle raised her eyebrows. "Oh my God. Really?"

Reaching up, Jasmine turned back her collar, letting Isaac's sister see the healing scar on her shoulder before reaching down and tapping her side, too. "Got hit twice. Your brother's been taking care of me while I get back on my feet."

"Damn." Suddenly looking doubtful, Annabelle lifted her eyebrows. "Well, do you think you can handle it?"

Grinning, Jasmine nodded and took Annabelle's hand when she stepped back and held it out to her. "For a little bit at least." She stood up, letting the younger woman lead her out onto the dance floor and started moving to the beat of the music. She kept it simple to avoid aggravating her injuries and glanced around before turning her attention back to Annabelle. "Where's Evie?" She'd barely seen Annabelle's girlfriend since they arrived at  _Seattle Spin_.

Tilting her head toward the back of the nightclub, Annabelle said, "She's in the back talking to a friend of hers."

Jasmine glanced in the direction Annabelle indicated, but the room was too dark, the back cast in shadows. So, she just nodded in response and focused her attention on the woman in front of her. The incredibly  _attractive_  woman in front her, hands sliding along her thighs before lifting in the air above her head, hips jerking from side to side ….

_Oh, hell no. She's Isaac's sister, and you're with Thane. And, she's with Evie. Down girl._

Tearing her gaze from Annabelle, she glanced around again, spotting Isaac still dancing with the same guy, but watching her and Annabelle with a grin on his face. She smiled, flashing her teeth at him before nodding toward the guy hanging off of him and giving him an approving nod and waggle of her eyebrows. She couldn't hear his laugh, but she saw it in the shake of his shoulders, his head tipping back a little.

She lasted longer on the dance floor than she'd expected, and she really hoped it didn't mean she'd be paying the price for it the next day. The dull throbbing in her shoulder and abdomen told her it was time to stop, though, so she leaned in closer so Annabelle could hear her easier. "I think that's all I've got in me. I've got to use the restroom anyway."

Annabelle smiled and nodded her head, still dancing as Jasmine walked off the dance floor. She made her way to the back of the club, the shapes in the shadows becoming more visible as she made her way closer. Then, she stopped in her tracks, the fog of alcohol suddenly disappearing as her gaze zeroed in on the lines of red sand spread out on a mirror sitting on a table. Her mouth watered, fingers trembling, and she almost felt the burn in her sinuses … almost felt the biotic flames licking at her skin. Her heart pounded against her sternum, sweat beading on her brow.

_Fuck._

A man leaned forward, bringing a straw to his nose, sucking up a line before throwing his head back in obvious ecstasy. She licked her lips again, suddenly realizing she'd moved closer to the table without ever really meaning to. A blond-haired woman, with skin pale enough she looked dead as the flashing lights washed over her, took the straw from him and leaned in toward the mirror. The movement brought her face into sharper focus for Jasmine, and she narrowed her eyes as the woman snorted the next line of red sand.

_Evie?_

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Stomach rolling, Jasmine turned on her heels and made her way back through the crowd. She stopped next to Isaac, tugging on his sleeve, ignoring the sudden spark of alarm in his eyes as he turned his head to her intrusion into his personal space. "We need to talk. Outside. Now," she yelled, making damn sure he heard her over the music.

Eyebrows tugging down, he glanced around the nightclub, whether looking for a threat or his sister she wasn't sure. Pursing his lips, he looked back at her and nodded before leaning in to say something into the ear of the hot guy he danced with—the man glaring at her like she must be the biggest bitch on the planet for interrupting them. She didn't care, and she didn't wait, turning and walking away. Slipping through the crowd, she reached the door and stepped outside.

She sucked in a deep, shaky breath, catching the scent of tobacco in the cool, night air. Looking around, she spotted two men standing a couple of meters away, smoking cigarettes. "Excuse me? Can I bum one of those?"

"Sure." One of the guys broke away, meeting her halfway and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He handed one to her and then lit it before sliding the pack back into his pocket. "You alright? You kind of look like you just saw a ghost."

She forced a smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm—"

"Sunshine?"

She glanced over her shoulder, seeing Isaac stepping out onto the sidewalk. Turning her attention back to the guy, she smiled again. "Thanks for the smoke."

She left him to return to his boyfriend—or whatever their relationship—and made her way back to Isaac, taking a heavy drag from the cigarette, hoping it'd still her nerves. Christ, it tasted like shit, hot and acrid, burning her throat and mouth. It smelled terrible, too. Why did she ever think smoking was an attractive thing to do? But, she'd smoked like crazy making her way through withdrawal from red sand, and it really did help chase away her jitters.

Isaac narrowed his eyes at the cigarette but didn't comment. "What's wrong?"

"Walk with me," she said, after a glance back over her shoulder at the couple within earshot. She waited until they were a couple more meters away before talking again. "There are people using red sand in the back of the club." She glanced up at him when his hand landed on her good shoulder, pulling her to a halt.

"Please tell me you didn't use," he said, voice low, serious and concerned but not judgmental.

She sighed, taking another drag. "No … but Evie is."

He stared at her, eyes blank as he seemed to struggle to process what she just said. After a moment, he rubbed his hand over his face before tilting his head back to look up at the night sky. Letting out a long, weary sigh, he turned his gaze back to her. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, taking another drag. "Yeah."

"Damn it." He turned around, taking two steps toward the door before looking back over his shoulder at her. "Wait out here."

"Yeah." She pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded again, turning to lean against the wall. She took one more drag before grinding the cigarette out under her heel and watched Isaac disappear inside. Knowing things were about to get real ugly between Isaac and Annabelle, she tilted her head back against the wall to look up at the stars. "Fuck."


	31. Before Marching Into Battle

**Before Marching Into Battle**

Jasmine sat on the edge of the couch, hands trapped between her knees, ready to jump up and take her leave as soon as Isaac or his parents gave her the green light. In the meantime, she willed herself to be invisible. It definitely wasn't working, though, as Annabelle sat in the chair opposite of her, arms crossed and staring daggers at Jasmine. She wished her tactical cloak worked for more than a few seconds at a time. Adrian and Camilla sat in chairs perpendicular to Annabelle, and everyone seemed to be waiting for them to speak. Isaac sat on the couch next to Jasmine, a tightly wound ball of  _pissed-the-fuck-off_.

He'd damned near dragged both women out of the nightclub before putting Evie in a cab and telling her to go home. Then, he stared down his little sister, right there on the sidewalk, and had it out with her before telling her to 'get in the goddamned skycar'. Apparently, Evie's recreational drug use didn't come as a surprise to Annabelle, and in fact, she'd admitted to using herself from time to time. She'd said she didn't see what the big deal was and accused Isaac of overreacting. Jasmine found much better luck being invisible in the backseat of a dark skycar as Isaac took them back to his parent's house.

"I've never been more disappointed in you in your entire life than I am right now." Adrian lifted a leg, resting an ankle on the opposite knee as he shook his head.

Jasmine fought back a wince, thinking Adrian's words were a little harsh. Then again, she supposed if using drugs on occasion was the worst thing Annabelle ever did, then Annabelle was more or less a saint.

"Adrian," Camilla said, tone filled with an icy warning.

Annabelle narrowed her eyes at her father. "I'm an adult, Daddy, and it's my body to do with as I please." Nevermind the fact—apparently—she just called the man 'Daddy' and still lived at home with her parents.

Adrian didn't take the bait, he just stared at her, gaze like tempered steel. "Did you use drugs tonight?"

Scoffing and rolling her eyes, Annabelle said, "No."

"Annabelle." His voice sounded as hard as stone but far less forgiving.

"I didn't!" She threw her hands up in the air before smacking them down against the arms of the chair. "Evie asked if I wanted to, and I told her not with Isaac around. So, she went off on her own." Crossing her arms again, she let out a loud sigh. "I don't even do it that often, anyway."

Silence filled the air for a few seconds, and then he shook his head and looked away from his daughter. "This is why your grades dropped, isn't it?"

She didn't say anything, just clenched her jaw and glared at her father. It seemed a little like watching two skycars flying toward each other head-on at top speed. Jasmine knew if one of them didn't change course soon, it'd end in a spectacular crash … yet she couldn't look away.

After a couple of really long, incredibly tense minutes, Camilla broke the standoff when she looked at her daughter and said, "Please go to your room. We'll finish discussing this in the morning."

Huffing, Annabelle stood up and left the sitting room. Silence thickened the air for several, long minutes, none of the Winters making eye contact. Jasmine found herself in territory she didn't fully understand, and it made her itch, skin crawling with invisible insects swarming over her body. Then again … if she were completely honest with herself, some of it came from the demons whispering away in the back of her head, telling her there was nothing keeping her from going back to the nightclub. A line or two wouldn't kill her; she'd be fine. Stronger now, it wouldn't have to consume her again.

"You saw Evie using red sand?" Adrian asked, meeting Jasmine's gaze.

She licked her lips, trying to work up some moisture in the desert of her mouth, and fought the urge to look to Isaac for guidance. "Yes, sir."

"Did you see Annabelle, too?" Adrian asked, lips pressing tighter into a frown.

"No." She shook her head. "Annabelle and I were dancing together. I left her to use the restroom, and that's when I saw Evie. I turned around and found Isaac to tell him."

Adrian nodded and rubbed a hand over his face before scratching at the stubble along his jaw. "Thank you, Jasmine, for looking out for my daughter and not involving the police. I assure you, this will be handled within the family."

"You're welcome, sir." She wondered exactly what 'within the family' might entail, but she suspected it'd involve cutting Annabelle off financially or maybe sticking her in rehab. Truth be told, Jasmine kind of felt like shit for narking on Annabelle, but she didn't feel like she could just  _not_  tell Isaac. And really, she'd needed to get the fuck out of the nightclub once she'd laid eyes on red sand. Hell, she hadn't even taken the time to actually use the restroom.

Isaac let out a loud, heavy breath. "I think we should head out tonight, Pops."

"Nonsense!" Camilla said, pressing her palm to her chest. "There's no need for you to rush off over Annabelle's behavior."

"No, I think he's right." Adrian turned his head to look at Isaac, and Jasmine thought something unspoken passed between father and son. "The man has a job to do, and so does Jasmine. We've already kept them here longer than they intended to stay." He glanced between his wife and Jasmine. "Besides, no offense to you, and I do appreciate your intervention, but this is a matter best dealt with by family."

Jasmine held up a hand, more than happy to avoid whatever drama happened next for Annabelle. "No offense taken, I understand completely."

Isaac stood, moving toward his parents. "I'm sorry, Momma."

Camilla sighed and pushed herself to her feet. She held out her arms, pulling Isaac in when he hugged her. "Oh, it's alright, dear. Call your mother more often, won't you?"

"I will, as often as I can." Leaning down further, he kissed his mother's cheek.

She patted the side of his face and let out a sad sounding sigh. "I know your sister's angry right now, but you should tell her goodbye before you leave."

"I'll go talk to her now." He pulled away from his mother, glancing over his shoulder at Jasmine. "Go gather your things, Sunshine."

* * *

"Isaac." Jasmine swallowed, glancing at his silhouette out of the corner of her damp eyes. She'd thought putting a little distance between herself and  _Seattle Spin_  would take the edge off her cravings, but they were only getting worse as her mind shifted back to thoughts of Cerberus and the risks she'd be taking to see it through. "I think I need to go to Santa Fe," she said, voice soft.

"Where do you think we're headed?" He turned his head to look at her before reaching over and patting her knee. "Did you really think I'd take you with me to see my family before marching into battle without taking you to see yours, too? I figured I'd get you into Santa Fe, and if you don't want me to be there with you, then I can hang out somewhere else while you visit. Take a day or two with your people."

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes. "It's not just—Geoffrey …" She swallowed, taking a deep breath. "… Geoffrey's wife, Karin, helped me get clean. I'm struggling right now, with everything that's been going on. Normally, when I feel like this, I call her, but I figured since we're on Earth … and yeah, I'd really like to see them again before things get even uglier."

Nodding, he turned his attention back to navigating their shuttle. "We'll be in Santa Fe in a few hours."

"I want you to go with me to meet them." She swallowed against the knot in her throat. A part of her felt horrified by the idea, but she knew she really did want him there. She cared about Isaac, and he'd trusted her enough to take her to Seattle, the least she could do was offer him the same courtesy. "If you're comfortable with it."

"You sure?" He glanced at her again, but she couldn't make out his expression.

"Yeah." She nodded.

He bobbed his head. "Then yeah, I'm comfortable with it."

* * *

Jasmine stopped in front of the door, taking a deep breath and glancing over her shoulder. Isaac didn't say anything, just waited patiently. The first rays of sunlight just barely peeked over the horizon, not even really enough to call twilight, but she knew Karin and Geoffrey would both be up, even with it being the weekend. She lifted her hand and knocked. She kept the code to their lock, but she'd made it clear to them she just didn't feel comfortable walking into their home unannounced. She'd butted heads with them a few times over it, but eventually, both Karin and Geoffrey let it go. Face lighting up the moment he answered the door, Geoffrey didn't even say hello, he just pulled her into a bear hug.

She hissed, patting his back. "Still healing, Geoffrey."

"Oh, right." He let her go, holding her at arm's length, a grin on his face. "Sorry, I forgot. It's good to see you on your feet, kiddo." Glancing past her, he let her go and held a hand out to Isaac. "Hello. Geoffrey Williams."

"Isaac Winter." Giving Geoffrey a curt nod, Isaac shook his hand.

"My new handler," Jasmine said softly, making sure her voice didn't carry into the house.

"I see." Geoffrey stepped back and turned sideways, holding his hand out to usher them inside. "What do you plan to tell Karin and the kids?"

"He's my boss," she said before she glanced at Isaac and smiled, "and my friend."

Geoffrey nodded as she stepped inside, Isaac right behind her. "Do you need the gun safe?"

"Yeah." She held up her sniper rifle case. "We both do."

She'd told Isaac about the house rules on the way. If being disarmed bothered him, she couldn't tell. With kids in the house, the rules were the rules, though, and he said he completely understood. Of course, neither of them felt comfortable leaving their weapons in the shuttle.

Geoffrey stopped in front of the study and unlocked the door before turning back to Jasmine. "I'll go let Karin know you're here. Have you two eaten? You know she's going to want to feed you." He chuckled, the sound soft and full of love for his wife.

"Oh my God, coffee and breakfast sound great," she said with a toothy smile. "We've been in the shuttle for hours, barely slept at all."

He nodded, patting her gently on her left shoulder. "Good. Come into the kitchen when you're done."

"Okay." She nodded her head toward the study when Geoffrey walked away.

Isaac followed her inside, and she opened the safe. They both unloaded their weapons, closing and locking the safe behind them. She lingered there a moment, giving Isaac the chance to scan the room, wanting him to feel as comfortable as possible.

"You good," she asked, raising her eyebrow.

He smiled and bobbed his head. "I'm good. Are you good?"

"Yeah." She grinned, leading him back out of Geoffrey's study and locked the door behind them. "I'm good."

By the time they got to the kitchen, Karin stood at the stove, sausage and eggs already sizzling in a pan. She glanced over her shoulder and grinned before stepping away. She held her arms out, and Jasmine crossed the floor to hug her. Kissing Jasmine on the cheek, she said, "Rift will be so thrilled to see you. I'm so glad you're here."

Jasmine returned the kiss, squeezing Karin a little as she rubbed the woman's back and asked, "The kids all still asleep?"

"Yes, but you can go wake them up if you want. I doubt they'll mind too awfully much." Karin snorted softly and pulled back to meet Jasmine's gaze. "And even if they do, they'll get over it. They don't get to see you very often."

"Actually … I kind of hoped after we eat," Jasmine said, scraping her teeth over her lip, "you and I might have some time to talk alone?"

Understanding flashed in Karin's eyes, and she nodded. "Of course. Now tell me all about this handsome man you brought home."

Jasmine snorted. "He's my boss." Cocking an eyebrow, she added, "And he's gay, so get the thought out of your head. We're not together."

"Oh, I've already heard  _all_ about 'the hot drell Jasmine hooked up with' from Jessica." Karin chuckled, winking at Jasmine before letting go of her to look over her shoulder. "Hello, I'm Karin, Geoffrey's wife. He said your name is Isaac?"

Stepping forward, Isaac shook Karin's hand. "Yes, ma'am."

Geoffrey snorted, and Jasmine grinned. He shook his head, looking up at Isaac. "I wouldn't call her that if I were you. Have a seat. Do you drink coffee?"

Pulling out a chair, Isaac bobbed his head. "I do."

"Jasmine, you don't want any, right? Quit drinking the stuff?" Geoffrey winked at her as he stood from the table.

She scoffed and raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms and cocking her hip out to the side. "Pour the coffee and nobody gets hurt."

Geoffrey grinned at her and made his way to the cabinet, pulling down two mugs and filling them with coffee—real, fresh, delicious smelling coffee. Bringing them over to the table, he sat one down in front of Isaac and handed the other to Jasmine. "You gonna sit down, kid?"

She shook her head. "I'm feeling a little stiff after the long shuttle ride." Bringing the cup to her face, she inhaled deeply, letting out a soft moan.

* * *

Karin settled into the armchair, holding a cup of coffee between her hands. She didn't say anything, just watched as Jasmine got comfortable. It didn't bother Jasmine, she knew the routine. Pulling her legs up, she braced the heels of her feet against the edge of the chair and took a sip of her coffee. Karin once told her pulling her legs up like that was Jasmine's way of putting up a barrier, a protective wall between herself and the rest of the world. She told herself it was just comfortable, but a part of her knew Karin was right, just like she knew a few minutes into the conversation, she'd put her feet back on the floor.

Taking a deep breath, Jasmine met Karin's gaze. "Things have been pretty stressful lately. There's a lot going on with work, shit I wish I could talk about, but you know." Shrugging a little, she picked at the edge of her mug. "And getting shot. Last night I was in a nightclub with some people I know. I went to go to the bathroom and saw some people using red sand. Just right there, out in the open at one of the tables." She licked her lips and took a long swallow from her cup.

Karin waited her out, letting the silence linger. It was a tactic Jasmine was familiar with, both through her counseling with Karin and with her work. She used it herself often enough to get people to keep talking, playing on the inexplicable urge of people to fill a silence.

"I guess really the last year or so has been especially … trying. This isn't the first time I've come face to face with red sand lately. I didn't use, either time. But it seems like when the cravings are coming lately, they're getting to be harder and harder to push away again." She took a deep breath and stared down at her reflection in the coffee. Even after all the time she'd known Karin and relied on Karin to help her through her addiction issues, she still felt ashamed telling Karin about her weaknesses. "Last night, after we left, it's like a part of me kept trying to talk myself into going back. I kept thinking that using once wouldn't necessarily mean I'd fall right back into using all the time."

"What kept you from going back?" Karin asked, voice soft and unobtrusive, almost like a whisper in the back of Jasmine's mind.

Sighing, Jasmine thought back to the night before, brow furrowed. What  _did_  keep her from going back? She knew a part of her didn't want to disappoint the people she cared about, but something told her that wasn't the answer. "I … I didn't want to disappoint myself," she said, looking back up at Karin.

Karin offered her a soft smile, eyes sparkling with her approval. "How does it feel to avoid using because you don't want to disappoint yourself?"

Jasmine stayed quiet for a moment and then said, "I don't know." After a minute more of silence, she added, "It feels … like I'm trying to take responsibility for myself and my own actions."

"Mhmm. And that's a good thing, good  _thoughts_ , but how does it  _feel_?"

"Scary." Jasmine swallowed against the knot in her throat, blinking away the sting to her eyes.

"Scary," Karin repeated.

Nodding, Jasmine licked her lips. "Because … what if that's not enough? Fuck. It wouldn't be the first time I let myself down." Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down over her cheeks, and she sniffed, swiping the tears away.

Karin cocked an eyebrow. "Who says it  _has_  to be enough?"

Rampant thoughts skidded to a stop in Jasmine's head, and she stared at Karin for a moment, at a loss for words.

Setting her cup down on the table, Karin moved to the edge of her seat and leaned a little closer. "I've counseled hundreds of people struggling with addiction, and do you want to know one of the biggest lessons I've learned over the course of my career?" She raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Jasmine asked, sniffing again and settling her feet back on the floor, barely conscious of the fact as she leaned forward, too.

"The key to successfully recovering from addiction starts first and foremost with a  _desire_  to recover from addiction, but almost no one ever does it alone. A support system is vital. Knowing your triggers, knowing your limits, and having a plan in place are all very important components to recovery." Reaching across, Karin held out her hand and squeezed Jasmine's fingers when Jasmine closed the distance and gave Karin her hand."You're not in this alone, Jasmine."

* * *

"Hello, Father." Kolyat's face lit up.

The sight eased the ache in Thane's chest, and he smiled. "Hello, my son. How are you?"

"I am well." Kolyat walked down the hall and into his room, closing the door behind him before plopping down on his bed. "I hope you are, also."

"I am. How are your studies going?" Picking up his cup of  _cinuela_ , Thane took a sip before setting it back on the table.

After completing his last contract, he decided to return to the Citadel while he waited to hear from Jasmine since he didn't have anything else already lined up. Granted, if he wished to find work, he could easily do so by reaching out to his contacts. For the time being, however, he decided to wait for someone to seek out his services instead of looking for a contract himself in case Jasmine needed his assistance. He didn't know for certain what Isaac planned in their investigation into Cerberus, and it left him apprehensive, concerned for her safety.

"I received perfect marks this week," Kolyat said without inflection, a simple statement made as a matter of course.

"Fantastic, Kolyat." Thane smiled, still in awe of his son every time he looked at him. The fact he'd ever managed to convince himself that his complete absence was best for Kolyat baffled him. "I'm proud to see you applying yourself so diligently."

"Thank you." Frills darkening, Kolyat smiled and pulled himself up a little straighter. "I wonder how Jasmine is doing."

"We are not together right now," Thane said, responding to the unspoken request to invite Jasmine into the conversation. "She was required elsewhere for work, but I intend to call her tonight. The last I spoke to her, she appeared well. I'm sure she'll be pleased to know you are thinking of her." He picked up his cup and smiled, the last remnants of his battle sleep slipping away as he talked to his son. "She asks about you often, as well."

"I am happy she has forgiven me for my earlier behavior." Kolyat smirked, tipping his head to the side a little. "Uncle Drali said humans often like to hold grudges."

Thane chuckled, giving his son a light shake of his head. "I suppose some do, yes. Jasmine cares about you greatly, though, and she understands how painful the news of our relationship was for you."

"It is good you have Jasmine, and she has you." Sounding wise beyond his years, Kolyat nodded slowly. "I know this now, and I care about her, also."

Heart swelling with pride and love, Thane wished he could be there with his son just then, to embrace him and place a kiss atop his head. "This pleases me greatly to hear, Kolyat."

* * *

Jasmine laughed, finding herself sandwiched between Rift and Angela in a war for her attention. Literally. The two kids reached across her, shoving and pinching one another playfully, trying to get the other to relent and let them have Jasmine all to themselves. A sharp elbow dug into her side, just above her bullet wound and she sucked in a gasping breath.

"Ow, shit!" Hissing, she groaned, and Angela and Rift both froze, mortified and worried looks on their faces. "I mean crap," she amended, cradling her side and clenching her jaw as she sucked in a slow, deep breath.

"Careful, kids," Geoffrey called from his opened study. "I told you, you need to be gentle with her right now."

"I'm so sorry!" Angela's face contorted, flushing, and Jasmine thought she might be on the verge of tears.

Sucking in another steadying breath, Jasmine forced a smile on her face. She reached out, wrapping her arm around Angela's neck and pulling her in against her side. "Don't worry about it, accidents happen, and I'll be fine."

Rift settled in against her other side, movements slow and cautious. "How much longer will it hurt for?"

Watching Isaac disappear from the room, she shifted her other arm to wrap around Rift and tugged him closer, ruffling his hair. "What just happened? Probably not long, it's already starting to feel better." A lie, but one she felt completely comfortable telling. "In general? I'm not sure, I've never been shot before. It gets easier every day, though. I saw a doctor the other day, and she said I'm recovering really well."

"Were you scared when it happened?" Angela asked, tilting her head back to look at Jasmine.

"Terrified." Jasmine nodded. She'd thought she'd die, how could she not be scared? "Absolutely terrified."

"But you got the bad guy, right?" Rift asked.

"I sure did." She smirked, rubbing her hand over his head again, the texture of his hair feeling completely different after taking regular showers. It still brought her peace and joy knowing she'd helped Rift find a family, someone to love and take care of him, and obviously, he thrived living there. Yet, every time she thought about it, sadness crept in around the edges because there were still so many duct rats on the Citadel who she  _didn't_  help.

Isaac came back in, carrying a glass of water and her bottle of halgraven, followed by Karin. Without a word, he held the water out to Jasmine. She pulled her arms free to take the water from him and held her other palm up as he opened the bottle. Karin sat down on the edge of a chair nearby, a wary look in her eyes as Jasmine popped the pills in her mouth. Jasmine met Isaac's gaze and then tilted her head slightly toward Karin.

He glanced at the woman before looking back at the bottle in his hand. Putting the cap back on, he sat it down on the table, discreetly turning the label to where Karin might see it without drawing questions from the kids. He took the glass back from Jasmine and put it next to the bottle.

Sitting back down again, he looked over and asked, "Is that you in the picture of the softball team, Angela?"

Sammy dropped the book she'd been looking at to her lap and groaned dramatically. " _Why_  did you have to ask her about softball?"

Jasmine laughed despite the stab of pain, and Isaac grinned. Glancing at Karin, Jasmine saw she wasn't paying attention to the girls, reading something on her omni-tool instead—no doubt looking up halgraven. Her concern didn't come as a surprise, especially just an hour after Jasmine unloaded on her about how close she'd come to using red sand the night before.

Angela squirmed, sitting upright. "Yes! And we won the high school regionals this year, which means we're going to the nationals! I'm so excited." She took a deep breath, waving a hand through the air. "Okay, so, we play fast pitch, and I'm the team's best pitcher, but Hannah—she's the second best—got pissed off because our coach didn't choose her to pitch for—"

"Ugh.  _Oh my God_! Angela, he doesn't care about all of that." Sammy rolled her eyes. " _Nobody_  cares."

Face turning a bright shade of red, Angela balled her fists in her lap and glared at her sister. "Shut up,  _Samantha_ , I wasn't even talking to you!"

"Don't call me that!" Sammy slammed her book closed, tossing it on the table as she lurched forward to the edge of her chair. "Mom!"

"Enough, girls. Angela, you know your sister prefers to be called Sammy." Karin closed her omni-tool, shifting her gaze to Sammy. "And Sammy, there is nothing wrong with Angela wanting to talk about her accomplishments. If you don't want to hear it, then don't listen. This is the family room, not your room, you don't get to police others' conversations in here."

* * *

"Fair warning, I'm surrounded by nosey children with innocent ears," Jasmine said the moment she appeared on Thane's omni-tool's screen.

He chuckled, hearing the familiar squeal of Rift's laughter in the background. "You've gone home for a visit?" He raised a brow ridge, wondering if it meant she'd introduced Isaac to her family. He wasn't entirely certain how he felt about the prospect.

Lips lifting slowly into a smile, she nodded. "Yeah. I came home for a visit."

It pleased him to see she'd come to accept they were, indeed, her family and their house her home. Their profession was often an isolating one, he understood the truth better than most others, perhaps. He didn't want to see her erecting barriers between herself and those who loved her as he did for so many years.

"Who's that?" a young, feminine voice asked.

"Oh my God, are you talking to Thane?" Another feminine voice, older, closer to adulthood.

That one familiar, it only took a couple of seconds for him to place a name to the voice. "Hello, Jessica."

A moment later, Jasmine flinched and laughed as bodies suddenly surrounded her, pressing in against her side, vying for a view of her screen. He recognized Jessica easily enough, Rift, too, of course. Judging by their levels of development, the girl on Jasmine's immediate right must've been Samantha, which made the other Angela.

"Sere Krios! Look, these are my other sisters. This is Angela and this is Sammy," the boy said, reaching across Jasmine to poke each of the girls in turn as he spoke.

"Rift, be careful!" Angela's arm darted out, forming a protective barrier across Jasmine's abdomen.

The boy winced. "Oh, sorry, I forgot," he said, glancing up at Jasmine just long enough to see her smile before turning his attention back to Thane. "And you remember Jessica." He gestured over his shoulder at the oldest girl with his thumb.

"Indeed." Thane dipped his head to Jessica. "It's good to see you again." Shifting, he met the gaze of the other two girls in turn. "Hello, Angela and Sammy. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello," said Angela.

Sammy smirked and waved. "Hi, Jasmine's  _boyfriend_."

Jasmine snorted and shook her head, nudging Sammy with her elbow. Thane blinked and chuckled.

"Do you already know Jasmine's friend?" Rift asked, not giving Jasmine or Thane the opportunity to respond further to Sammy's snarky greeting.

"Yeah, he knows Isaac," Jasmine said when he hesitated to answer.

Initially overwhelmed to have so many faces in front of him, so many curious eyes scrutinizing him, Thane found he adjusted with unexpected ease.

"You've already met my mom and dad." Rift squirmed a little, a happy smile on his face. "And Lucky."

Thane chuckled again, amused and comforted by the child's delight. It brought him great joy to see how well Rift seemed with his new family, and it only made Thane love Jasmine all the more for making it possible for the boy. "Indeed, I have."

"Lucky's getting  _huge_ ," Jasmine said, eyes widening.

"Dad said when Lucky is full grown, he'll be as big as I am now!" Rift's voice rose with his excitement. "Can you believe it?"

"That is quite large," Thane said, raising his brow ridges to feign being shocked and impressed by the declaration.

Jasmine let out a soft chuckle, nudging Sammy with an elbow. "Alright, you guys, tell Thane goodbye then get off of me so I can take the call in another room and have some privacy."

Thane smiled through the chorus of 'goodbyes' and dipped his head. "Goodbye."

Standing from the couch, she moved through the room, giving him glimpses of a vidscreen, miscellaneous furniture, and framed photographs decorating the walls. "Karin?" she said and then paused before adding, "Do you mind if I use your room to take a call?"

"Not at all," Karin said, her voice eliciting the memory of her face in Thane's mind. "Go right ahead, sweetheart."

"Thanks," Jasmine said, leaning in to kiss the woman on the cheek.

Karin's gaze flicked to the screen as Jasmine pulled away again. "Oh, hello, Sere Krios."

"Hello, Karin." He smiled, dipping his head to her before adding, "You may call me Thane if you wish." It seemed as if everyone there knew his name and used it freely, a fact which made him somewhat uneasy, but he thought it only fair considering she'd given her name to his family.

"Thane." The older woman smiled. "What a lovely name."

"My thanks." He dipped his head to her again.

Jasmine gave him a radiant grin, and it helped to soothe his concerns. Clearly, she trusted them completely, and it seemed to please her for him to extend the offer. After all, Karin was the closest thing to a mother remaining to Jasmine. Leaving Karin in what appeared to be the kitchen, Jasmine made her way down a dimly lit hall and into a bedroom before taking a seat in a chair near the window, weak sunlight filtering through the open blinds. He didn't think he'd called her so very late, but it seemed nearly dark. He thought about it for a second and realized it must be winter where she was, which meant the sun set far earlier than the rest of the year.

"Hey, gorgeous." She smiled, settling back. "I miss you."

He chuckled, amused, embarrassed, and flattered by her word choice all at once. "And I you, siha. Kolyat asked about you earlier today."

"Yeah?" She lifted an eyebrow, but her gaze seemed almost restless as it moved over his face.

He studied her as he spoke, noting the darkness beneath her eyes, realizing she must not have gotten much sleep the night before. "Indeed. He hopes you are well, and he's glad you have forgiven him. He said he's pleased you and I have one another, and he cares about you."

"Aw." Her wide grin brought a little life back into her eyes. "I care about him, too."

"Indeed. I told him as much." He watched her for a moment, wishing he could close the distance between them. Seeing her helped to untwist the knot he'd been carrying in his shoulders since fulfilling his contract against Sophia Alvarez, but he knew only being able to hold her close, breathe in her scent, and feel her warmth against him would truly put him at ease. "Were you able to locate your contact?"

"Yeah, and we learned some disturbing things." She glanced toward the door and took a deep breath before turning her attention back to him. "There is—or at least was—a Cerberus facility on a planet called Gellix in the Arrae System. They were performing all sorts of experiments on a variety of species." She shook her head. "I'm still processing, to be honest."

"I see. I'm pleased you found more information but regret such things happened at all. Will you be going to Gellix?" The thought of her intentionally going to look into a potential Cerberus facility frightened him. He knew she was more than capable of defending herself, but she was still injured, and Cerberus seemed intent on proving themselves to be an extremely dangerous enemy. It helped to know at least she wouldn't be going alone; Isaac would look after her.

"I don't know yet." She shook her head, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she yawned. "Sorry. Isaac and I are still discussing it, but I'll let you know as soon as we figure it out."

"I know it needn't be said, but please be careful, siha." He held her gaze, studying the depths of her eyes. If anything ever happened to her … he couldn't even bring himself to consider the possibility.

"I will, I promise." She gave him a soft smile and then turned her head as if hearing something nearby. After a moment, she relaxed again and returned her attention to him. "Did your job go okay?"

"It did, though I also found a reason to be disturbed … my target … she bore a strong resemblance to you." Even confessing out loud he'd killed someone who merely looked like the woman he loved twisted his insides into knots, forcing him to swallow and take a steadying breath.

Scrunching up her nose, she said, "Shit … must've been difficult for you."

"Indeed, it left me with nightmares." Terrible nightmares, the memories of which continued to haunt his waking mind. In the first, the moment he'd pulled the trigger, he'd realized the woman on the other end of his scope was indeed Jasmine and not just someone who looked like her. The last one felt infinitely worse; he'd  _known_  the woman was, in fact, Jasmine, but because he'd wrapped his battle sleep so tightly around himself, he'd killed her anyway, his commitment to fulfilling his contract taking priority.

"Damn." She frowned, eyes softening. "Now I feel like a major ass for not calling you sooner."

"There's no need for you to feel guilty, siha." He'd failed to call her sooner, as well. He'd told himself he meant to give her space to work and continue recovering, but a part of him knew he actually needed the space to cope with his dreams. "You've been busy, I understand this."

She scrunched up her face again. "Yeah … Isaac took me to meet his family, and we spent a couple of days there. I didn't feel right calling you from there."

"Ah. I see." He cleared his throat, just as conflicted about her meeting Isaac's family as he'd felt learning she'd brought Isaac to meet hers. "I hope they are well."

She seemed to hesitate before finally saying, "They're good people."

* * *

Angela and Sammy lay snoring in a tangled heap on one of the couches. Despite their earlier bickering, the girls were obviously still pretty close. Rift slept with his head in Jasmine's lap, feet in Isaac's. Karin left around eleven after getting a call from a distraught client and agreeing to meet them at her office. Jasmine didn't like the idea of her going off to deal with drug addicts alone and so late at night, and she could tell Geoffrey felt concerned, too. He seemed to be doing a fair enough job of distracting himself, though, by making idle chit-chat with Isaac. With their mother gone and Jasmine there, the younger three begged Geoffrey to be allowed to stay up.

Left foot resting on Jessica's knee, Jasmine watched as the teen painted her toenails—something she pitied Jasmine for being unable to do since before she got shot. It was about one in the morning, and sleep long since started tugging at Jasmine's mind. The monotone drone of the narrator on the Earth history documentary playing quietly on the vidscreen didn't help matters. It was something Geoffrey chose when he took over the remote after the younger kids fell asleep.

It'd already been decided she and Isaac would spend the night there and then discuss their plans further the next day. As always, Karin and Geoffrey made it clear they were welcome to stay for as long as they'd like. Jessica offered to let Jasmine sleep in the bed with her so she didn't have to deal with an uncomfortable cot, and Isaac got talked into sleeping on Rift's floor by the boy himself.

It didn't surprise her in the slightest for Rift to take to Isaac so completely, the boy spent so much time without the care and compassion of an adult, he'd attach himself to anyone willing to pay him attention. And damn it if Isaac wasn't really good with all of the kids. If he  _did_  decide to settle down someday and become a father, he'd totally rock parenthood. He'd spent an hour laying on his stomach, taking up half the living room floor with his height, while he and Rift played with the kid's model ships. She'd made a mental note to check for some new ones the next time she visited the Citadel.

Geoffrey sighed when Jessica finished making Jasmine's toes sparkle with glittery, sapphire blue polish. He stood, moving over to the couch to scoop the unconscious little boy into his arms. "Jessica, go ahead and wake your sisters up and tell them to go to their beds, then head to bed yourself."

"But mom's still not home." Jessica looked up at her father, fear dancing around the edges of her eyes.

He smiled, but something about it made Jasmine's stomach churn and the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. He turned toward the hall, looking back over his shoulder as he said, "I'm sure she'll be home soon. It's late, you need your sleep. Go on, now."

Jessica huffed but did as he said, pushing herself to her feet and turning to the other couch to wake up Sammy and Angela. Jasmine glanced at Isaac, and as soon as their gazes met, she knew he'd picked up on her alarm. She stood up, giving Angela and Sammy both a hug as they made their way to their rooms.

Stopping in front of Jasmine, the oldest of the Williams girls met her gaze. Jessica sucked in a deep breath. "Will you wait up for her?"

"Yeah, try not to worry. Get some sleep. You've got raccoon eyes." Jasmine pulled the girl in for a hug, running her hand over Jessica's hair.

Jessica snorted, but clearly, her heart wasn't in it. "Wake me up and let me know when she's home?"

"Sure. Night." Jasmine let her go and gave her the best reassuring smile she could manage just then.

"Night." Turning to smile at Isaac, Jessica blushed a little. "Night, Isaac."

"Sleep well." Isaac waited for the girl to disappear down the hall before turning to face Jasmine, voice low as he demanded, "Is something wrong with Karin?"

Shaking her head, she said with a voice just as low, "I don't know. She doesn't go out late for clients often, but it's not unheard of. Geoffrey thinks something is wrong though, I can tell."

When Geoffrey walked back through, instead of coming over to talk, he made his way to the study. Jasmine followed him and stopped in the doorway, ice water pumping through her veins as she watched him open the gun safe.

"I'm going with you," she said, moving into the study.

"No," he said, not bothering to look at her. "I need you to stay here, stay with the kids."

"If there's trouble, you might need back up." She shook her head, staying the course, but he blocked her path.

"Jasmine," he said, turning to look at her, voice thick with strain, "please. Stay here. Keep my kids safe."

"Let me go with you, then," Isaac said, and Jasmine looked over her shoulder, finding him standing in the doorway.

She turned back to Geoffrey when he didn't answer right away. "Damn it, one of us  _is_  going. It's your choice who."

Sighing, Geoffrey checked over his pistol before holstering it at his side. Looking up, he gave Isaac a curt nod and cleared the way. Isaac came inside and moved to the gun safe. Frustrated by being made to sit on the sidelines and scared, Jasmine left the study without a word and went to the kitchen, putting on a pot of coffee. No fucking way in hell was she going to let herself fall asleep until everyone came back home, safe and sound.


	32. Home

**Home**

Jasmine paced the living room, a sinking feeling growing deep in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong. They were taking too long. They should've come back or at least called.

Stopping, she drained the cold coffee in her cup before pouring herself some more. She left it on the table to cool off while she made another circuit of the house, peeking into each of the children's rooms. They all slept soundly, but still, apprehension continued to tighten her muscles, leaving her back stiff and her neck sore. When she finally heard the front door opening, she felt so tightly wound, her heart nearly lept out of her chest. She held her breath and rushed to the hall, glancing toward the foyer. Isaac stepped inside, his face a stone mask as he glanced up and met her gaze.

And she knew.

_Oh, God. Karin. No, please, God. No._

Something inside of her broke, but it didn't bring the rush of agony she'd expected. Instead, she just felt numb. Empty.

Stepping a little further into the light, Isaac licked his lips. "Jasmine …."

Blood. He had blood on his shirt. She didn't even bother to look him over for injuries. The blood belonged to Karin, she just knew. He said something else—she saw his lips move—but she didn't hear a single word. In fact, the only sound she heard was the thunder of her own pulse roaring in her ears. He moved toward her, mouth still forming silent words as he reached out to her. Blood covered his hands, too, dried to a near black against his dark skin. Looking back up at his face, she found tears in his eyes.

* * *

Thane's omni-tool pinged, an unfamiliar number flashing across the screen. He hesitated, considering not answering, but something told him he should. Putting his back to an empty wall, he made certain he left nothing behind him which might be used to pinpoint his location to even the most astute observer and then answered the call. Isaac's face appeared on his screen; certainly not who Thane might've expected but not an unwelcome surprise—until the look on the man's face registered in his mind.

Pain lanced through his chest, and he pulled his battle sleep tight around him on reflex. "What's happened? Has she been hurt?"

"Physically, she's fine." Isaac brought a hand to his face, rubbing his fingers over his forehead. "But I think you should come to Earth. Karin …. Jasmine just needs you right now."

"Karin's been hurt?" Thane didn't require a response to know something far worse than a mere injury happened; Isaac's expression told him all he needed to know. "Karin's gone to the sea." He lowered his gaze, Isaac's wince answer enough, and pulled in a deep breath. "I'll be there as quickly as I can."

He didn't wait for a response before closing his omni-tool. Moving to the closet, he pulled out his bags and laid them on the bed. He didn't own much, and most of his personal possessions remained packed, so it only took a couple of minutes to gather up the rest.

With everything secured, he slung the bags over his shoulder and collected his gun cases before leaving the apartment. As he stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall, he opened his omni-tool and forwarded the landlord another week's worth of rent and notice of his intent to vacate.

Once that was complete, he placed a call to Jasper—a human contact residing on the Citadel who specialized in tracking the movements of both ships and people in regards to the Citadel. Skipping the pleasantries, he said, "I'm headed to the docks. I need to go to Earth immediately, please secure me passage on whatever ship will get me there the fastest."

* * *

She pulled Rift onto her lap despite the sting of pain in her shoulder, and he buried his face against her neck, tears, spit, and snot instantly soaking through the collar of her shirt. The anguished wails he let out, deafeningly loud next to her ear,  _should_  tear her apart. The sight of the girls' faces, contorted and red as they bawled and shook violently in their grief,  _should_ eat her alive. The dead, empty look in Geoffrey's eyes  _should_  steal the breath right from her lungs.

Still, she felt nothing.

Pretending to feel something she actually didn't, came as second nature to her, though, thanks to her training. She refused to let Geoffrey or the kids see her act as if Karin's death didn't matter. So, she faked it. She pushed tears out of her eyes, screwed up her face, shuddered, and sobbed, knowing it was the proper response—the  _human_  response. How she'd really act if she weren't broken inside.

Isaac sat on the arm of the couch next to her, a hand resting on her shoulder. He said nothing, just stayed there with her, offering her comfort. But she didn't  _need_  comforting. It'd been  _hours_  since he walked back through the front door and brought her world crashing down with him. Her shock should've passed in that amount of time, real emotions flooding in. After all, Karin was ….

 _Like a mother. I've lost_ another  _mother._

 _What the fuck's wrong with me? This isn't about me. Jesus Christ, listen to Rift and the girls. Karin_ was their  _mother. And Rift's already lost one, too._

She supposed, in some way, her numbness made sense. Finding her mother's body on the bathroom floor nearly killed her as a kid; no wonder her psyche fought like hell to protect her from Karin's death. Maybe it was also why she'd always tried so hard not to think about the Williams family as her own. Thane was right, though. They were her family and their house her home.

* * *

Thane took a deep, steadying breath. Running his hands down his jacket, he forced himself to let go of his battle sleep. His siha needed him—all of him—and he must be prepared to feel her grief. Another steadying breath gave him the courage to raise his hand and knock on the wooden door, sorely in need of new paint.

A few moments later, the door opened. Geoffrey, haggard and tear-stained with blood-shot eyes met Thane's gaze, but it was as if he didn't see him. Thane's heart wrenched behind his ribs. Seeing the man after the loss of his wife felt bizarrely like looking into a distorted mirror, one which showed an alternate version of Thane himself after Irikah's death.

_Arashu, save him._

Tucking his hands behind his back, Thane said, "Mr. Williams, I'm not sure if you remember who I am. We met—"

"Sere Krios, of course, I remember." Geoffrey turned his head, glancing back into his home. "Forgive me, I'm …."

"There's no need to apologize." Thane pulled a hand from behind his back, showing the man his palm to halt his words. "My heart aches for you and your family. If there is anything I might do to ease your suffering, please, you need only ask."

Tears welled up in Geoffrey's eyes, and he lowered his gaze. He swallowed, his throat shifting up and down a few times before he nodded his head and met Thane's gaze once more. "Thank you," he said, his voice choked. "Please, come inside. Jasmine's sleeping—finally—but I know it'd mean a lot to Rift to see you right now." He stepped back out of the way, one hand dropping from the door to hang limply at his side while the other swept out, gesturing into the house.

"My thanks." Thane stepped over the threshold, moving just past Geoffrey before turning and waiting for the man to show him inside.

"Do you need to use the gun safe?" Geoffrey asked when he turned around, raking his hand through his already disheveled hair. "It's a house rule, weapons go in the safe."

"Ah. No, I have no weapons on my person." Thane left his belongings, including his weapons, in the rented skycar he'd left parked in the driveway. His guns and blades were secured in cases requiring his biometric scans to open, and those cases locked in the back of the vehicle. Should a threat arise, he felt more than confident he'd handle the problem without weapons. He  _was_  a weapon, after all.

Dragging his hand through his hair once more, Geoffrey nodded and tilted his head toward the hall as he started walking. Thane followed him, his gaze taking in the worn but clean brown carpet, the faded paint, and the stairs' wooden banister—highly polished from years of being touched by human hands, he suspected. The stairs occupied much of the space to his right, directly across from the entrance. Doors lined the hallway stretching out in front of him; the opened ones appeared to lead into bedrooms and a bathroom, but he could only guess at what stood behind the others. The pictures hanging on the wall held little interest for him until he caught sight of Jasmine's face. He paused, studying the familiar angles softened by youth.

"She hated me for making her take that picture." Geoffrey's soft laughter startled Thane, bringing him back to the moment.

Feeling oddly embarrassed for being caught staring at her photo, Thane chuckled despite himself. "She looks rather young here."

"She was. It was her eighteenth birthday. My wife … ." Geoffrey made a strangled sound and cleared his throat. When he spoke again, his voice trembled, "Karin was afraid Jasmine would be out the door the day she turned eighteen, and she just wanted … she wanted something to remember her by. Jasmine didn't want to take the picture, she said she hated photographs. I took her aside and explained to her how important it was to Karin and she finally agreed, though she wasn't happy about it." He rubbed his damp eyes. "We've got pictures of Rift up now, too. They're down here at the end."

Thane turned away from the picture and followed Geoffrey down the hall where he pointed out two frames filled with Rift's grinning face. Thane smiled, it brought him peace to see such happiness in the boy's eyes. Truly, Jasmine made the best choice by sending him to live with the Williams family.

Backtracking, Geoffrey took Thane into the living room. Old, worn, leather and cloth furniture filled the space. A fireplace occupied one wall, a vidscreen mounted above the mantel. Framed photographs decorated the walls and rested on the mantel along with a variety of odds and ends. To the right, an entryway led to a kitchen.

Isaac sat on a couch, Rift leaning in against his side, the boy's attention on the vidscreen. He nodded when Thane met his gaze but didn't leave the child's side or speak. Curled up in a leather chair, Sammy slept with her arms tucked in against her chest, a blanket thrown over her legs. Jessica sat at the opposite end of the couch from Isaac, leaning against a young man, her legs draped over his lap. She seemed to be sleeping, too, though her companion appeared more than alert as he stared, wide-eyed, at Thane. Angela and Jasmine were notably absent.

Geoffrey took a few, seemingly aimless steps into the living room before turning sideways. "Oh, uh …. You two already know each other, right?" He asked, gesturing at Isaac.

Rift turned, apparently just realizing someone had arrived. Eyes widening a little but lacking their usual warmth and excitement, he called out, "Sere Krios?"

Thane lowered himself to a knee, opening his arms as the child shoved off the couch and flung himself in Thane's direction. Incoherent and sobbing, Rift's words were lost against Thane's neck and shoulder. All he could do was hold the boy tight, rubbing his hand back and forth across Rift's back.

The sounds of Rift's grief stirred the girls awake, and within moments, both were also crying. Geoffrey moved to the chair, picking up his youngest daughter and bracing her against his chest before taking her seat. He stroked her hair and rested his lips on top of her head.

Thane felt every bit like an outsider, an intruder in what ought to be a private moment for the family. Still, he held no intention of leaving. Jasmine needed him. Rift needed him. His heart truly did ache for their loss. The sheer agony he felt when he'd realized he'd failed Irikah … he didn't wish such pain on anyone. Rift didn't cry for long, sobs subsiding within minutes, but still, he clung to Thane. He suspected the child already spent quite a bit of time shedding tears; likely everyone in the family had.

A few more moments passed before Rift pulled away, meeting Thane's gaze, lower lip quivering. "My mom died last night," he said, voice soft and shaking. "Someone killed her. She never hurt anyone, why would they do that?" The last part of his question came as a high-pitched whine, and he started to cry again, collapsing back against Thane.

"The galaxy is beset with wickedness, and sometimes terrible things happen to the best of people." Thane cupped the back of the child's head. "Your mother didn't deserve this, and I'm very sorry it happened."

* * *

Noah—the young man who'd comforted Jessica, her boyfriend according to Geoffrey—took the children to go pick up dinner and ice cream. Thane suspected Noah did so at Geoffrey's request, as no sooner than they'd left, Geoffrey locked himself in his study. Judging by the sounds coming from the room, the man worked to vent his emotions through primal sounding screams and by destroying his own belongings.

Neither Isaac nor Thane acknowledged what they heard, though, and miraculously the sounds didn't disturb Jasmine's rest. After two hours spent with Rift, Thane considered waking Jasmine, but no sooner than the thought occurred to him, the others left and Geoffrey broke down. If the noise didn't wake her, then she must desperately need the sleep … and it would only pain her further to bear witness to Geoffrey's grief. Perhaps she might offer the man some comfort, but Thane selfishly wanted to spare her pain more than he cared to soothe Geoffrey's.

Left alone with Isaac, Thane cleared his throat. "How long has she been sleeping?"

"A few hours. She stayed up all night, and she didn't really get much sleep the night before. An hour or two in the shuttle on the way here, that's about it." Isaac rubbed a hand over his face and nodded his head toward the kitchen before standing. "I think I've got more coffee in my veins than blood right now myself."

Thane stood to follow him as he made his way to the kitchen. "You've not slept either?"

"I napped a couple of hours on the couch when Rift fell asleep on my lap. Poor kid." Isaac shook his head, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "I went with Geoffrey last night to check on Karin. She'd left the house pretty late to meet someone at her office and stayed gone for a long time." He put the carafe back into the machine and turned to the table, taking a seat. Nodding his head at another chair, he waited for Thane to sit before he continued, "She was already dead by the time we got there. Her office was ransacked, and she'd been beaten and stabbed. The police are working on the theory that the man she'd met with became enraged when she refused to order him a prescription for narcotics and attacked her."

_Beaten and stabbed._

Images of Irikah's broken, lifeless corpse threatened to drown out everything else. She'd been beaten and stabbed, also. Their home destroyed. Her blood had soaked through their broken, overturned furniture. Thane swallowed, waging an internal war against the memories threatening to force their way through the surface and escape his lips.

Isaac let out a deep breath—helping Thane to refocus—and took a drink from his cup. "There was more than one person there, though. At least three, besides Karin. I'm not sure if the police realize it or not, but I couldn't stick around for them to show up. They'd start questioning me, wanting to know how I know so much about the crime scene, where I was when it happened, who I am …." Leaning forward, he propped an elbow on the table and rubbed his eyes. "Geoffrey knows what Jasmine does professionally, and he knows who I am to her, so I told him what I saw before I left, but I don't know if he  _really_  heard me, you know? Finding his wife like that …. I can't even imagine …."

"Regrettably, I can." Gently clearing his throat, Thane folded his hands on the table. "And yes, I do know."

"Shit." Regret flashed through Isaac's eyes when he looked up again. "I didn't even consider what this must be like for you. I'm sorry."

"I'm … managing." Thane dipped his head. "Please, continue."

Drinking deeply from his coffee, Isaac licked his lips. "I'd checked Karin when we got there, trying to find signs of life, so I had blood on me. The whole situation was just so …. I didn't even think about washing up before coming back here. All I could think about was how bad this was going to hurt Jasmine." He looked haunted by whatever he saw, gaze glazing over as he stared at the wall past Thane. "And I just made it worse. She saw the blood when I got here, of course, and she just … shut down. I didn't even get the chance to say anything before I could tell she'd just checked out. She's spent the whole day pretending to be feeling something—probably for their sake, and damn it she's good—but I know it was just a show."

If she continued clinging to her battle sleep, it might be problematic. Thane knew what one became capable of in the face of such injustices when they refused to let themselves feel. After all, he'd done the same, and he'd hunted down and slaughtered the men who'd killed Irikah. Unease crept over him, dread spreading out along his spine. He stood, pushing away from the table. "I want to check in on her. Where is she?"

"First door on the left, top of the stairs." Isaac pointed upward. "Try not to wake her, though, please."

"Of course." Thane left the kitchen and made his way to the staircase.

The sounds coming from Geoffrey's office died down a minute or so before, but so close, Thane heard the man's muffled sobs through the walls. Moving on silent feet, he made his way up the stairs and stopped in front of the door Isaac mentioned. He hesitated, afraid to open the door and prove his instincts correct.

_Sweet Arashu, please let her be inside._

Taking a deep breath, he turned the handle and cracked the door open, moving carefully to not make a sound and risk waking her, just in case. Light from the hall filtered through the door, catching on the empty bed. His heart sank, and he opened the door the rest of the way, just to verify there was no one in the room. She was gone. He pulled the door closed and went back downstairs, heading straight for Isaac.

"She's gone," Thane said, pressing his fists to the table's surface.

"What?" Isaac's face suddenly seemed a shade paler. He sat down his cup and pushed away from the table. "Goddamnit."

Without another word, the two of them went to Geoffrey's study, and Isaac knocked softly. It took a few seconds, but Geoffrey finally opened the door. Behind him, papers, books, picture frames, and several other items littered the floor. The far wall held several holes, and the man's hands were bruised and swollen. A barely restrained predator lurked behind his eyes, pacing and snarling when he met Thane's gaze.

"Jasmine's gone. Do you know where she went?" Isaac asked.

Geoffrey moved away from the door, turning his back on them. He crossed the cluttered floor to his desk and collapsed down in the chair. "I received a notification saying she'd accessed the gun safe about an hour after she laid down," he said, his voice hollow. "I've been telling myself she just needed some time to herself, but …."

_But you know it isn't true._

Isaac let out a weary sigh and rubbed his hand over his face before opening his omni-tool. A moment later, he sucked on his teeth. "She's deactivated her omni-tool. The call's bouncing back."

"I know," Geoffrey said, voice barely above a whisper.

Closing the screen, Isaac glanced up and met Thane's gaze. "I have to go find her. I can't let her do this."

"I don't mean to challenge your authority over her, but if she has gone to hunt down the people responsible for Karin's death, she won't be dissuaded." Thane's stomach twisted and his heart throbbed as he said it, but he knew it was the truth, felt it in his soul. Nothing and no one would've ever convinced him to allow Irikah's killers to continue to breathe, and he was well versed in Jasmine's stubbornness. "Even if you succeed in stopping her this time, Jasmine won't let this go. She'll return when you're not by her side. She won't stop until they're dead, and this will haunt her for the rest of her life."

"So what do you suggest I do?" The words left Isaac with a growl, and he rubbed his hand over his head.

"I …." What  _did_  he suggest? They needed to think of something, they were running out of time … if they weren't already too late. Taking a deep breath, Thane glanced between Isaac and Geoffrey. "If I am offered a contract to take the lives of those responsible for Karin's death, I will accept."

"Jesus Christ, you want me to hire you to kill them?" Geoffrey sat back in his chair and ran a trembling hand through his hair again. A flood of emotions, too swift for Thane to track, shifted from one to another across Geoffrey's face. His gaze unfocused, but Thane understood he saw his wife's body as he found her.

Thane gave him a moment before gently clearing his throat. "If it is your desire."

"How is that a solution?" Isaac shook his head. "It's not any better if you kill them!"

"It is." Thane tucked his hands behind his back, resolute in his decision. "Their deaths will not stain her soul."

Scoffing, Isaac shook his head, throwing a hand out in Thane's direction. "They'll just stain yours, then. That'll make her happy." His anger and sarcasm lingered in the air, thickening the atmosphere. "It's one thing to accept a contract, but to solicit one?"

Thane lowered his head. "No. Although I would rather take this on myself than let it be on Jasmine, I will just be the instrument of their deaths, regardless of my offer. The responsibility will lie with whoever chose to hire me."

"It doesn't matter; I can't afford to pay you," Geoffrey said.

"I am already in your debt." Thane turned to find Geoffrey staring at him, and he dipped his head to the man. "You took Rift into your family and provided him with a home, and if not for your intervention in Jasmine's life, I might not have ever met her."

Geoffrey ran a hand over the stubble along his jaw and chin. Pursing his lips, he slowly nodded, cold determination icing over his eyes. "Do it. Let this one be on me, not her. Go. Do what you have to do to save my girl from herself and bring her home."

Thane sighed in relief and dipped his head. "As you will."

* * *

Jasmine's brain felt jittery, her muscles twitchy. The cool, late-winter air left her fingers a little numb and settled into her joints, making them ache—especially her knees where they made contact with the rocky rooftop. Between the lack of sleep and the stims she'd picked up to keep herself going, she knew she'd crossed a line and wasn't thinking rationally.

 _Fuck rationality. Those sons of bitches killed Karin. They killed Rift's mother._ My  _mother._

She'd consider the consequences of her stim use later. Adjusting her scope, she watched the three thugs in the alley down below. She'd seen what they did to Karin. Santa Fe Police Department's internal security sucked. It was  _way_  too easy for her to get into their files, and she didn't even need to get near enough to the building to risk being seen. The sick fucks took their time with Karin, beating her mercilessly before stabbing her to death. Jasmine had knives. Maybe she should rough up the assholes a little and then stab them, too.

Karin wasn't even in her grave yet, and the pieces of shit who killed her were out walking around like nothing happened. Jasmine didn't see a hint of fear or guilt on their faces, just the focused, hungry look of addicts trying to get their next hit. She waited for their dealer to walk away, her issue wasn't with him. As soon as the men were alone again, opening their little bags of white powder, she focused her scope on the first man and turned on her laser sights.

And then she couldn't move. Literally. Biotic energy surrounded her, holding her in place.

"Damn it, Sunshine." Isaac's voice came from somewhere behind her.

_Jesus fuck, Isaac. Let me go! Let me go!_

Eye still to the scope, she saw Thane step out of the shadows down below. A haze of confusion and desperation filled her mind, making her head spin and her stomach roil. He glanced up, his gaze seeming to find her despite the impossibility the distance created, and it felt like a fist crushing her heart. Moving like a specter in the night, he left all three men lying dead on the alley floor in a matter of heartbeats before melting into the shadows once more.

"I kept hoping we were wrong. I thought there might actually be a chance we wouldn't find you here."

Isaac's voice sounded right beside her, the disappointment in his tone slicing through her, but she still couldn't open her left eye or take her right from the scope to look at him. All she could do was stare at the bodies in the alley, something breaking loose inside of her and starting a landslide. Tears flooded her eyes, but she couldn't even blink them away. Her throat ached to let out a wail, but no sound escaped her. The Stasis surrounding her felt like the only thing keeping her upright, but then it vanished.

Isaac's arms wrapped around her, and she sagged against him, sniper rifle clattering on the rooftop. Sucking in a deep breath, she shuddered and sobbed, the suppressed wail finally scraping its way through her throat, leaving it raw and her mouth tasting of blood. He held her against him, keeping her from completely collapsing. After a moment, he turned, putting his back to the safety wall and pulled her into his lap, much as she had with Rift earlier that morning.

* * *

The tears finally stopped falling, leaving behind a different kind of numbness, one wrought of exhaustion and simply having nothing left inside to cry out anymore. Patchouli and mint filled her nostrils with each breath, warm scales and hard muscle rested beneath her palm. Hands that stole her vengeance stroked her hair and her back, cradling her in the backseat of Thane's rented skycar.

Isaac lowered the vehicle to the driveway outside of the Williams' residence. Jasmine watched him out of the corner of her eye as he hung his head, sitting in the silence for nearly an entire minute before he opened the door and climbed out. Thane didn't move, though, other than continuing his gentle caresses. After another minute, she stirred, shifting off of his lap and opening the door on her side. A part of her felt angry with him for killing those men. Another part only knew relief.

Climbing out of the skycar, she reached back in and grabbed her gun case from the floorboard before heading to the house. He remained a silent figure at her back, just a couple of paces away as she went inside and headed straight for Geoffrey's study. Isaac waited for her by the door, shoulders slumped in either exhaustion or defeat, she wasn't sure which. She felt as upset with him as he seemed with her, a fissure in their trust. It would either heal itself or it wouldn't, just then, she didn't care one way or the other.

She didn't bother finding Geoffrey to ask him to unlock the door. Obviously, he knew she had the code, so she saw no point. Punching in the numbers on the keypad, she hesitated, gaze taking in what looked like a war zone. She glanced at both men standing nearby. Neither seemed fazed by the mess as if they'd expected it, so she didn't dwell on it either.

Careful where she stepped, she made her way through the debris. With the stims wearing off, leaden weights filled her body, anchoring her to the floor and making each step a defiance of physics. Every breath she took nudged her closer and closer to unconsciousness. Her mind felt foggy, her thoughts slowed and murky as if struggling to keep her head above water. She knew the moment she laid down and closed her eyes, though, she'd only see the pictures of Karin's body on the backs of her eyelids. Even if she happened to fall asleep, she'd only have nightmares. She'd bought enough stims to keep herself awake for a couple more days if she needed to.

_Red sand works better._

After putting her sniper rifle away, she unholstered her pistol, too, setting it on top of the case. Then she released the velcro on the sheath for her throwing knives, folded it, and set it next to the pistol. Stepping out of the way, she waited in silence while Thane and Isaac both stored their weapons before closing the door and resetting the lock.

When she turned to leave the office, she found Geoffrey standing in the doorway, relief evident on his face. Tears started to fill her eyes again, and he crossed the threshold, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into an embrace. She clung to him, sobs wracking her body once more.

"Are they dead?" Geoffrey asked, and Jasmine nodded against his chest.

"It is as you wished," Thane said.

Pulling away to look up at Geoffrey, then Thane, and back again, she asked, "What's he talking about?"

Geoffrey didn't meet her gaze, just tightened his grip on her and pulled her back in against him. Resting his chin on top of her head, he said, "Nothing. Don't worry about it, kiddo. I'm just glad you're home."


	33. Epilogue: Relapse

**Epilogue: Relapse**

Jasmine stood at the gravesite in silence, Isaac at her left, Thane at her right. Geoffrey stood not far off; Rift and the girls huddled in against him. Under other circumstances, seeing Rift in a little black suit would've tickled her pink. Seeing him wear it for Karin's funeral twisted the knife a little deeper into Jasmine's heart.

Being winter, the plot needed to be thawed before the grave could be dug, and it took a couple of extra days. Despite the below freezing temperatures, the sun shone brightly—not a single fucking cloud in the sky. And it felt downright disrespectful. Karin would've liked seeing the sun shining, but Karin was dead. The whole goddamn Earth should be in mourning, including the sky.

Tears came and went as they pleased, just as they did since Jasmine watched Thane snap the necks of Karin's murders. Men Jasmine wanted to kill. It didn't take her long to figure out Thane somehow convinced Geoffrey to 'hire' him to kill the men so she wouldn't. She guessed they both feared for her immortal soul … just not their own. Well, by Thane's thinking, the judgment would fall on Geoffrey alone when his time came. She'd have rather condemned herself to Hell than either of them; God knew she was headed there anyway.

Isaac hadn't said much else to her yet. She knew he probably thought the lives of those men weren't hers to take just like the guys she and Ares killed back on the Citadel. He was smart for not saying it to her, though; she felt fairly certain she'd lose her shit on him if he did. As far as she was concerned, those sons of bitches forfeited their lives to her the moment they laid a finger on Karin. She  _deserved_  to claim their lives … but Geoffrey deserved it more. It might be the only thing keeping her from feeling truly angry with Thane and Isaac for interfering.

_Either way, at least they're dead._

A dark skycar landed in the designated zone a few meters away. Jasmine watched as the doors opened, Ashley Williams and her sisters stepping out. Letting out a little hiss—the sight of Geoffrey's oldest niece already making her hackles rise—Jasmine closed her eyes when Thane's grip on her waist tightened, and he turned to look down at her.

"Are you well, siha?" he asked, voice gentle but prodding.

"I'm fine." She opened her eyes again, gaze settling back on the coffin in front of her.

Geoffrey opted for a closed casket. Although they'd attended the viewing, he thought it might be easier for the kids. Jasmine couldn't quite say Karin looked 'peaceful', but the mortuary did a decent enough job camouflaging the damage she thought an opened casket would've been just fine. She didn't think it'd really make a fuck of a difference to the kids one way or the other—Karin would still be dead.

* * *

The family gathered to form a receiving line, and Jasmine started to slip away. Jessica reached out and grabbed her hand, though, tugging Jasmine back to stand between her and Geoffrey. Uncertainty swept through her, but when she met Geoffrey's gaze, she knew he wouldn't have it any other way. Glancing down the line, she looked over the mix of the Williams family's relatives, both from Karin's side and Geoffrey's. Ashley met her gaze, lip lifting in a sneer as she narrowed her eyes at Jasmine. Obviously, she didn't think Jasmine should be in the receiving line, either, but it only made Jasmine more determined to stay.

People flowed past her, some shaking her hand, others squeezing her shoulder—which brought only a spark of pain when someone made the mistake of going for her right shoulder instead of her left. She didn't really hear the words they said to her, nor did she really care. Nothing any of them had to say would make a fuck of a difference. Karin was still dead.

Catching sight of Thane moving closer, her gaze stayed on him, using him as an anchor as nameless, faceless strangers passed her by. Unsurprisingly, he was the only alien in attendance, and it drew quite a bit of attention to him. She told him he didn't have to be there, but he insisted, telling her it was his duty as much as his honor to stand by her side through it all. She didn't know what to think of the whole 'duty' thing. She wasn't sure what to think about much of anything anymore … but she knew she loved him, and despite feeling disgruntled towards him, having him there made the funeral easier to swallow.

Isaac stopped in front of her, dragging her attention from Thane. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek, using his thumb to brush away a tear she didn't even realize slipped out. "I'm sorry, Sunshine." He leaned down, kissing her forehead, and more tears fell from her eyes as he moved on through the line.

Thane wasn't far behind him, and when he reached her, he pulled her in against his chest. She clung to the edges of his jacket, gentle sobs shaking her as she buried her face in his neck. She didn't know how long he held her there, but when he finally let go again, the rest of the guests had passed her by.

* * *

Jasmine poured more rum into her glass before setting the bottle on the kitchen counter. Tossing back the liquor, she puckered her lips as she swallowed it down and turned her gaze to the woman leaning against the refrigerator next to her.

"Shouldn't you at least  _try_  to stay sober? For God's sake, Jasmine, Karin was just killed by addicts." Ashley raised an eyebrow, lips twisted in disgust as she looked at Jasmine. "My uncle doesn't need another one making an ass out of herself at the reception. It's bad enough you stood in the receiving line and brought an alien to her funeral."

"Don't," Jasmine said, knowing she didn't have it in her to put up with Ashley's bullshit.

"Why are you even here? It's not like you actually stuck around long enough to really get to know Karin." Ashley scoffed. "Geoffrey might buy your tears, but I—"

Slamming Ashley against the refrigerator door, Jasmine pressed her forearm across the woman's collarbones, her voice coming out in a seething hiss when she said, "Backyard. Now."

"Siha!"

First shock and then anger flared in Ashley's eyes as she shoved back against Jasmine. "Let's go, bitch."

"Siha, wait … you don't want to do this."

_Oh, yes, I do._

Easing away, she dropped her arm from Ashley's chest, staring the woman down before taking a step back and waved her arm at the door next to the refrigerator. Smirking, always so goddamn cocksure, Ashley turned her back on Jasmine and opened the door, stepping out on the porch before letting the storm door slam shut behind her. Cold, winter air flooded the kitchen, but Jasmine didn't bother going to fetch a coat before following Ashley outside.

Ashley waited for her out in the yard, bringing her hands up in front of her face as she took on a stance Jasmine remembered well enough from basic training. Taking her time, Jasmine stepped down from the porch, gaze roaming over Ashley, already picking out the woman's weaknesses. She'd never seen Ashley fight before, but she'd heard through the grapevine Ashley was a real front and center, right in the thick of things kind of soldier. Ashley also believed Jasmine never even made it through basic training before calling it quits on the Alliance—tending to be a major source for her distaste for Jasmine—which meant she had  _no fucking idea_  what Jasmine was capable of.

The screen door opened again, but Jasmine didn't bother to look as she fell into the same stance, smart enough to not show the soldier all of her cards despite the flames of a grief-fueled rage licking at her mind.

"Jasmine." Isaac's voice carried a warning edge, but still, she didn't look back.

"You better listen to your boyfriends." Ashley smirked. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into." She didn't even give Jasmine the chance to take her 'advice', though, before lunging at her, fists swinging.

Jasmine side-stepped, dropping one stance for another as she moved and rammed her elbow into Ashley's back, high enough to avoid the kidney and low enough to miss her ribs. She wanted to put the bitch on her ass, not seriously damage her.

* * *

Letting out a resigned sigh, Thane watched as Jasmine danced circles around the antagonistic woman. After Ashley's last remark, Isaac appeared less inclined to order Jasmine to stop and return to the house. Instead, he leaned against the porch railing and crossed his arms. Thane might've continued to try and urge Jasmine to reconsider, but once Ashley attacked, he knew there would be no point. So, he just observed, but he intended to intervene if he must to save the life of the foolish woman who clearly didn't understand what the Alliance trained Jasmine to do.

After a moment, Thane admitted to himself it brought him a sense of pride to watch how easily Jasmine led Ashley around the yard, swiftly dodging blows and rarely failing to deliver her own. He'd never actually seen her fight, beyond when they first met and their time sparring on Kahje. Even in her grief, even with her anger, she looked beautiful. Four times, she knocked Ashley off her feet, barely giving the woman a chance to rise from the ground before moving in on her again. Surprise evident in Ashley's eyes, still the woman refused to back down. Refused to surrender.

_Ah._

And then he understood it was because she was a Williams. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Jasmine about the way people treated the Williams family because Geoffrey's uncle surrendered in the First Contact War. Even when blood poured from her nose, Ashley didn't quit, she just got up again. A small gash in her eyebrow dripped blood into her eyes, undoubtedly making it harder for her to see and track Jasmine's movements, but she continued to swing.

Moving closer to Isaac and pitching his voice low, Thane said, "She is the granddaughter of General Williams of Shanxi. It's likely Ashley will let this continue until she is unconscious … or dead."

Isaac glanced at Thane, his brow furrowing before he turned his attention back to the fight. "That's enough, Sunshine," he said, but she didn't stop. "Jasmine, enough." Pushing away from the railing, Isaac raised his voice, barking out his words, "Stand down, Shepard!"

Jasmine spun, facing Isaac, hand snapping up to her forehead in salute. "Sir, yes, sir!" Despite following the order, defiance danced along the flames flickering in her eyes.

The command in Isaac's voice brought Ashley up short as well. She wiped the blood from her mouth, swaying on her feet as she glanced between Isaac and Jasmine.

After a long moment of Isaac and Jasmine staring at one another, Isaac let out a huff of breath and shook his head. "Get back inside before you freeze to death."

Jasmine dropped her hand and headed toward the steps, not meeting anyone's gaze as she climbed the stairs.

"I thought you quit the Alliance?" Ashley called after her.

Stopping in her tracks, Jasmine didn't bother to turn around before simply saying, "You thought wrong."

* * *

After Jasmine's encounter with Ashley, Thane and Isaac were both concerned enough to insist she speak with Karin's cousin—a doctor named Logan Mason. After she explained her gunshot injuries and the measures taken by the Citadel doctor, Dr. Mason ushered Jasmine into Jessica's bedroom to perform a cursory exam. Thane joined them, watching as the doctor scanned her shoulder and abdomen with his omni-tool. Dr. Mason cleared her, but not before telling her she was lucky she didn't dislodge what remained of the mesh supporting her shoulder or refracture the still-healing bone.

Once the house emptied of all funeral guests, Jasmine took some halgraven and laid down. Jessica offered the use of her room to them the day he arrived. Initially, he declined, insisting he would be fine on the floor or a couch, but apparently, none of the Williams children wished to sleep in their own beds, instead opting to pile together on pallets made in front of the fireplace. Geoffrey chose the couch as his resting place, either unwilling or simply unable to sleep in the bed he once shared with his wife—something Thane understood all too well. Isaac slept just down the hall in Rift's room.

Thane watched her as she slept—if fitfully—something she'd gotten so little of over the last few days. The rest of the house settled down around him, the sounds of footsteps, doors opening and closing, running water, and muffled voices coming with less frequency. Wind howled outside the building; weather alerts early in the evening promising a winter storm with a high chance of snow. The house itself felt plenty warm, though, and safe thanks to Geoffrey's willingness to allow Thane and Isaac to add in additional security measures.

Restless and unable to sleep himself, Thane contented himself with taking in the shadows as they fell across Jasmine's face. Although she hadn't said anything as of yet, he knew she was upset with him for accepting Geoffrey's contract. He regretted the act only in as much as it displeased her; he felt no remorse for preventing her from doing something that would hurt her worse given time. He prayed she would forgive him.

The pain and anger haunting her eyes since Karin's death filled him with dread. Losing someone else she was close to in yet another seemingly nonsensical act took a toll on her, shattered a part of her she seemed to fight to keep hidden from those around her—even him. He feared for what it might mean for her soul. She'd already seemed so strained, more reserved, since Illium and her imprisonment after, but then with everything that happened since with Cerberus, being shot, the Cerberus assassin, learning of the other ways Leon betrayed her, and then Karin's death …. Thane smelled the stims in her sweat, but he didn't dare broach the subject with her just yet.

Whimpering, she flipped over to her side, flinging her arm out over the edge of the bed. A moment later, she let out a strained, fear-filled gasp and turned again, the back of her hand slapping against his chest. Reaching out, he brushed hair out of her face, humming softly, and her eyes snapped open.

"It was only—" He didn't get all the words from his mouth before she covered it with her own.

The sudden shock of her fervor as she shoved her tongue against his lips, demanding entrance, startled him, and he pulled back. But she only persisted, her palm against his shoulder pushing him flat against the mattress as she pulled his lower lip between her teeth and climbed on top of him. He tried to say her name, remind her of where they were, but she only seized the opportunity to slip her tongue past his lips, sliding over his own. Heat rushed through him despite his best intentions when she rocked her hips against him and ran her fingers over his frills.

"Siha," he whispered when she tore her mouth away, leaving his lips feeling swollen and nearly raw. "I don't—" He groaned as her teeth scraped over his throat, her hand sliding down his abdomen to dip inside the waistband of his pants. "We're in Jessica's room," he reminded her, settling his hand down on top of her wrist.

She rocked her hips again, testing his restraint on her wrist as she used her fingertips to knead the scales and muscle beneath her hand, tugging against him. "I don't care," she said, voice hoarse. Tongue darting out of her mouth, she traced a scorching hot trail down his throat before nipping at his shoulder. "I want you." Lifting her head, she nuzzled against his frills before whispering in his ear. "I need you."

Pushing downward, she didn't give him the chance to respond before freeing her wrist from his grip and wrapping her hand around his growing erection. Resolve wavering, his mind flipped back and forth between wanting to succumb to her desires and insist she get off of him. It didn't seem appropriate, not in Jessica's room, perhaps not even under Geoffrey's roof, and most certainly not so soon after burying Karin in the cold earth. And … there was a rough edge to her touch he'd never felt from her before, making him more concerned for her mental state.

Yet it stirred something inside of him, called out and challenged some primal part of his brain, making him want to  _claim_  her.

Sucking in a staggered breath, Thane relented, allowing her to stroke him until he'd do anything she asked of him just to feel her surrounding him. She purred against him, seemingly pleased with the results of her efforts and released him to tug his pants down over his hips. Not even taking the time to remove her undergarment, she simply shoved it aside before wrapping her hand back around him. Wet heat washed over him as she used the head of his erection to part her folds and rushed to lower herself onto him.

* * *

She wasn't at all gentle with him, and it didn't take long before he stopped being gentle with her—exactly what she wanted. What she  _needed_. She didn't want to  _make love_. She wanted to  _fuck_  the man she loved. She wanted to channel her grief and her anger through the act, vent it from her system, knowing when it was over, she'd forgive him and everyone else involved in keeping her from taking the revenge she felt owed.

Leaning over, she sank her teeth into his shoulder, stifling her own screams as her body shook with an orgasm. A low, rumbling growl vibrated through Thane's chest before he wrapped his hands around her and flipped her over to her back. Hitching her thigh up higher over his hip, he slammed into her, stealing her breath and sending the most glorious aftershock rocking through her body.

_Yes. Oh, God. Yes. This. This is what I need. Fuck me._

* * *

Jasmine sat on the edge of the toilet lid, fresh from the shower, turning the little, auto-injecting vial of stims over and over in her fingers. The drug name, Videlicet, stared back at her with each pass. It was the last of the vials she bought, but she knew how easy it'd be to get more. She almost felt the rush of the stim, like fire in her veins, her body's way of taunting her, trying to convince her brain to pop the top and press the vial against her skin. Closing her eyes, she took a deep, shaky breath. When she opened them again, she carefully set the vial on the edge of the sink and stood up.

She got dressed and stood in front of the mirror, using Karin's hair dryer as she ran the brush through her hair. Try as she might, her gaze just kept straying back to the little, glass bottle of Videlicet. Turning off the hair dryer, she wrapped up the cord and put it away before pressing her fists into the counter.

"Fuck it." She picked up the vial and snapped it open, pressing the injector against her neck before she could talk herself out of it. It wasn't like she hadn't already relapsed. Sucking in a deep breath as the drug hit her, tears filled her eyes. "Oh, God."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for Part 3 - The Hunt


End file.
